The Word is My Oyster

Sporadicus and Imposteritis

2012-02-01T05:00:00.000-06:00

No, I'm not talking about a new type of mold.

No, I'm not talking about watching Stanley Kubric films at odd times of the day.

And no, I'm not trying to quote the movie Clueless. As if!

For the next nine weeks, I'll be helping to run a weekly writers' workshop. It's the same workshop that nurtured my early attempts at poetry and prose, and let to writing fiction. But this time around, I'm a leader in the group. *Gulp* I'm kind of nervous, because I'm basically a self-taught writer of fiction and poetry. (Ooh, maybe now is the time to whip this little certificate out!)

I wonder when that "imposter" feeling will go away.

Anyway, because I'll be devoting several hours a week to this workshop, you'll notice that I'll be pretty sporadicus with my blog posting. (Remember, purposeful misuse of silly words is charming, not idiocy. Or so I tell myself.)

How about you? Have you had a chance to mentor budding writers, or been part of a writing workshop?

Do you suffer from Imposteritis when it comes to hanging out with other writers?

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Don't forget to stop by Laura Diamond's blog, where she answers this month's Sisterhood of the Traveling blog question! Next week, I'm up. :)

Medical Mondays: Chemo in my garden

2012-01-30T05:00:00.000-06:00

I've had a few requests to do more herbal medicine/toxicology posts. Here's one I love.

Does this look familiar to you?

Photo credit

Vinca, or periwinkle, is a commonly used a decorative ground cover. It's native to Europe but found in North America, parts of Africa, and Asia. It has ever blooming periwinkle-colored flowers with waxy, drought-resistant leaves. In some places, it has a bad name because it can get quite invasive.

Whenever I see it, I think "pretty." Then I think, "chemotherapy."

There are many active compounds in the Vinca species. In the Catharanthus roseus species, the chemicals vincristine and vinblastine have been extracted and are commonly used to treat leukemia and lymphomas today.

Catharanthus roseus can be pink, white, or a combination

Photo credit

In traditional Chinese medicine, it has been used to treat diabetes, Hodgkins disease (a type of lymphoma), and malaria.

If the plant is ingested orally, it is VERY dangerous. It can be hallucinogenic, and may cause kidney and nerve damage.

Vincristine and vinblastine work by inhibiting the rapid division of cancer cells. Jargon alert!-->Specifically, it polymerizes microtubules needed to allow mitosis to occur.<--Jargon alert over! Unfortunately, it also effects other cells that divide rapidly in healthy human tissues, such as the cells of hair follicles. Hence, many patients on these medication will have chemo-induced hair loss.

Other side effects include neuropathy (numbness and tingling of the limbs), low sodium levels, and constipation, among others.

Vinca is so pretty and so fascinating, isn't it? Can you take a moment and imagine how you could use Vinca in a story?

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

All I ask is that you become a follower and post a link on your blog when I post your answer. This is for fictional scenarios, only. Please check out the boring but necessary disclaimer on my sidebar --->

Also, don't forget to stop by Laura Diamond's Mental Health Mondays and Sarah Fine's The Strangest Situation for great psychiatric and psychological viewpoints on all things literary. :)

Now follow Medical Mondays on Twitter! #MedMonday

My Goodreads Freak Out

2012-01-27T05:00:00.000-06:00

I joined Goodreads a few years ago, but I'd been horribly stagnant. After all, I can barely handle Facebook, Blogging, and Twitter. Google+ has become an odd country where (mostly) strangers add me to their little Google crop circles daily. (And thus I run farther and farther way. Might as well call it Google negative bajillion, at this rate.)

Anyway, sometime in the last two weeks, my book mysteriously popped up on Goodreads. I didn't put it there. My reaction?

I stared at the "book cover image not on hand" icon. Then I twitched and proceeded to dive for the safety of my comforter.

Holy freaking macaroni, my book is up on Goodreads.

So then, I did what any normal person would do. I visited my book on Goodreads, like, forty times that day to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Then, another weird thing started to happen.

People started adding it to their to-read list.

What the--?

I know, I know. You're thinking, "Lydia, be reasonable. Some people actually might want to read it."

But "to-read" possessed way more of a "will-check-out-your-underwear-drawer-and-medicine-cabinets" kind of vibe.

Anyway, after I unstuck myself from the bedding, I put up a blurby short something about the book (90% of which is taken directly from my original query--so yeah, if you ever wanted to see my query, that's pretty much it, minus one paragraph with spoilers), started adding friends that I should have added a million hours ago, and began Goodreads obsessing.

THE FOUNTAIN is on the YA Novels of 2013 list, and it's hovering at #50. What qualifies for the buoyancy of 50, rather than 150, or 5? Apparently a mathematical equation that involves voting it up, and how many people want "to-read". However, I'm convinced that the Goodreads fairies came up with this far more accurate equation to determine ranking:

[(# marked "to-read") + (#votes up)] ÷ [(facial pore size / general anxiety level)]
- [(time spent driving over speed limit) ÷ (probability of showering by noon that day)] = RANK

Oh yes. You know it's right.

All I know is, Goodreads is going be the death of me.

So I am vowing to stop the madness. It's cutting into my writing time, adding unnecessary stress to my life, and making what little hair I have fall out. No more checking GR forty times a day and no more looking at ranks.

I am not a number.

I'm going to use Goodreads for the good things. I've been cataloging my TBR pile so I can access it when it's time to buy a new book. If you have written a book that I haven't added, please let me know.

And it's been fun finding my Goodreads friends (er, mostly you guys, my bloggy friends) and seeing what you guys are reading. That is muy awesome and I'm finding new books to read that way.

So. Do you do Goodreads? How much of your online life does it occupy?

p.s. I don't do reviews on GR. I'll explain this behavior in another post someday.
p.p.s. I vow to never respond to good or bad reviews, on GR or anywhere else.

Interview!

2012-01-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

Mindy McGinnis, whose debut NOT A DROP TO DRINK (Katherine Tegen/Harper Collins) is coming out in 2013, has kindly interviewed me on all things blogging and writing.

Pull up a chair.

Have a virtual cup of latte, on me.

And thank you much for the visit, if you do drop by. :)

******

Please take a moment to visit Deb's Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog post on Wednesday, when she answers this question: "Where do your expectations for your writing (career/skill/quality/achievements) come from? Is the source internal, external, or both? And how do you cope when you don't meet them?" Check out recent answers by Laura, me, and Sarah!

Medical Mondays: Prions from Outer Space

2012-01-23T05:00:00.000-06:00

A while ago, Krispy at A Nudge in the Right Direction asked me a question about picking out a slow disease to attack a character.

One of the diseases I considered were prion diseases. First off, the name "prion" sounds sci-fi, and as you'll see below, they are like no other disease you've ever encountered.

What's a prion? Prions are proteins that are folded in an abnormal state. They have no DNA or RNA, like most living things. They are difficult to destroy and are infectious.

How do they multiply? Prions propagate themselves by causing nearby, normal proteins to fold abnormally like them. Once those proteins misfold, they too cause other nearby normal proteins to misfold, and on and on. (Kind of like the Borg and their assimilation).

How do you destroy prions? With a lot of effort. The normal way we disinfect things to destroy viruses and bacteria often don't work on prions. High, prolonged temperatures, high concentrations of formaldehyde or caustic solutions are needed.

Is it animal, vegetable, mineral, or alien? Prions are not technically alive, in that they do not need food, or respond to their environment. They defy the biological definition that living things have nucleic acids (the building blocks of DNA). However, they replicate. They spread. And their very existence appears to have one effect--to make more of itself. Sounds alien to me.

Where did they come from? Okay, okay. They probably didn't come from another planet. There is a gene in humans on chromosome 20 for a similar prion protein that is a normal protein in humans. Mutations in this gene have cause inherited diseases with prions, like Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (CJD), Gerstmann-Straüssler-Scheinker syndrome, and Familial Fatal Insomnia (Death by Insomnia).

Can human immune systems fight prions? In a word, no.

What other diseases in humans are caused by prions? Mad Cow Disease (or bovine spongiform encephalopathy) has been theorized to have been transmitted to humans and causing variant CJD. Kuru is found in a native population of New Guinea that practiced cannibalism. There are several diseases that affect animals too, such as scrapie and of course, mad cow disease.

Symptoms? All prion diseases are neurodegenerative. They are slow diseases that primarily effect the neural tissues (brain, spinal cord). The symptoms can range from progressive dementia, difficulty walking or standing up, jerking of the limbs and tremors. Familial Fatal Insomnia causes...well. The name says it all.

Is there a cure? No. They are uniformly fatal.

Why aren't we all dead from prions, if they are so hard to kill and there's no cure? When cows are infected, there are low levels of prion in milk and meat, and it's not easy to absorb by eating. You also can't get prions from other people through casual contact. You'd need to be exposed to brain or spinal fluid tissues, or though organ donation.

How common are these diseases? As of 2011, there have been a total of about 211 cases of variant CJD worldwide. As for random, non-inherited, non-Mad-Cow related cases of CJD? 1 in a million cases worldwide, per year. Basically, pretty rare.

Did I just hear a collective sigh of relief?

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

Blogging: The WHAT Factor

2012-01-20T05:00:00.002-06:00

Today is Part Two of a series on blogging.

See here for Part 1, on Why Did You Start Blogging?

When I started, I figured I would blog about writing. I was deep into my second novel, trying to get an agent, and I figured I needed it for platform. Also, to vent! (Carefully, mind you.)

Early on, I decided to tackle a huge paranoia I had. I feared that other writers would shun me because I had this whole other career as a doctor. I wanted my blog to focus on the writer part, but I felt like a sham. I thought, maybe embracing it would be a better idea.

And so, Medical Mondays was born, along with Mental Health Mondays with Laura Diamond, who uses her skills as psychiatrist for writerly questions too. Sarah Fine came on board later on, to add her knowledge of psychology (specifically, child psychology). It's been a trifecta of goodness.

I am so glad I took that shaky step! Not only do I get a chance to help others, I also learn something fact-checking and doing research for every single post. As for that paranoia of mine? Poof. It disappeared when I realized people embraced these different sides of me and were okay with it. The icing on the bloggy cake is that Medical Mondays garners the most page views and sends the most strangers to my blog from search engines.

The Wednesday blog chain started soon afterwards. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog has changed a few members, but every month we're challenged to answer our own question. Deb, Sarah, and Laura have been great sisters, and great supporters.

I added other themes, like Plot Devices. Deus Ex Machina (after I got the spelling right) was illuminating for me. I also found out what a MacGuffin was (not a slobbish, overweight MacGyver. Who knew?)

Then weird science-related things that caught my attention. The Zombie Ants post was a runaway hit. The Luna Moth one still takes my breath away.

In August, I started doing some Author Spotlights on Fridays. That has been fun, and it came at a time where I was running out of fun things to blog about. Lately it's died off a bit, mostly because I slacked off on finding authors, plus I wanted to blog on Fridays for myself again. BUT if you want to be spotlit for a Friday, email me. I'd be happy to have you. :)

I guess after doing this for two years, I figured out a lot.

Sometimes taking a chance on content can pay off big (personally, and in page views)
Be willing to change and experiment. It's your blog, after all.
Make your own rules, and stick to them. For me, I stay away from cussing, religion/spirituality, and politics. I do not do book reviews. I don't post my own fiction here, not even snippets. I don't show pictures or names of my family members, and obviously, I don't blog about specifics from my day job. (Can you say HIPAA violation???)
Be yourself. On my blog, I'm silly. I doodle cartoons. This is what I'm like, on a personal level. Yes, my patients and my boss can probably see this stuff, but people and patients I work with know I keep my work sphere very distinct from this one. I've decided I have different facets, and I choose when to show those facets. I am not all things at all times. I am complicated, and I'm okay with that.

One big upcoming question will be about self-promotion. I will have a book coming out on 2013. Yes, I will make announcements on exciting stuff. But no, I will not be shoving my book in my reader's faces on every post when the time comes. I don't like reading that on other's people's blogs, and I won't have it on mine.

My blog, myself, my decisions.

So. How did you decide what kind of content to have on your blog?

Turning laziness into good stuff

2012-01-18T05:00:00.003-06:00

Theresa Milstein came up with a great idea recently. She wanted to be inspired to write whenever possible. Every day, in fact. But what about making those down times productive too?

So we collected ourselves into a little Facebook group (Hi Sharon and Susan and Crystal and Ann and Robyn!) called Write On to Build On.

For every day we don't write, we donate a dollar to a worthy cause.

After a bit of searching, we chose buildOn.

"buildOn runs after-school youth programs that mobilize urban teens to lift up their communities and change the world through intensive local service and by building schools in some of the poorest countries on the planet. We are a movement of students, educators and communities. Through our programs, people inspire people across neighborhoods, across cities, and across continents to reach and think beyond their realm of possibility."

We were inspired too!

In the process of picking an organization, we used Charity Navigator to evaluate the accountability and transparency of charities and help us pick a highly-rated charity that would put the majority of our donations directly to good use.

Do you have plans to give back, however small, this year? And I'm not just talking about money. Mentoring a new writer, volunteering, supporting others...how will you do it?

****

Please take a moment to stop by Sarah Fine's blog, where she answers her own Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog question: "Where do your expectations for your writing (career/skill/quality/achievements) come from? Is the source internal, external, or both? And how do you cope when you don't meet them?" Check out recent answers by Laura, me, and next week with Deb!

Medical Mondays: Nearly Ready for the Apocalypse

2012-01-16T05:00:00.001-06:00

I tend to daydream about surviving horrible situations. Well before Survivor or Lost aired on TV, I would sit in the subway car in New York and think: What would happen if these ten passengers and I all got stuck together, for a month, trying to survive? Who'd rise above the situation and be the leader? Who'd become friends, when normally they'd never ever talk? Who'd be in charge of getting food? Who'd steal it?

As a child, I imagined trekking through the woods, wearing a coat bearing fifty pockets. In those pockets? My beloved stuffed animals, first-aid kits, fire-making materials, food and water. This was a fun daydream for me.

I know. It's odd. Or rather, I'm odd.

But one thing always stopped those survivalist/disaster daydreams in their tracks. My vision problems.

Here's how bad it was: When I held a book about eight inches away from my face, the text was too blurry to read. Without contacts or glasses, I was seriously disabled. Contacts can be swept out of one's eyes by a single rogue wave in the ocean. Glasses shattered by one wayward behind, sitting down.

So on Friday, I got laser vision correction, after thinking it over for a decade.

After 5 mg of Valium, I was ready to go. I asked my hubs to try to scare me, to see if it was having an effect yet. When he asked, "Are you scared of the surgery?" I laughed at him. "Okay. It's working," he decided.

The surgery itself was quick, but not quite painless. There was intense pressure and burning and the feeling like they were playing hockey with my eyeballs for a while. When they were done, I could see the clock on the wall, but everything was foggy, like I had a film on my eyes. I was cautiously optimistic.

(If you really want to see what I went through, here's a YouTube video. It is NOT for the squeamish!)

That night, my eyes burned so badly and the light was so excruciating I could barely open them for the intensive eye drop treatments I needed. I had (still have) big hemorrhages on the whites of my eyes.

The next morning, I woke up to see the fine branches on the trees outside my bedroom window.

I almost cried.

Now it's Sunday, and though I'm still seeing halos around the lights, I can now see the tips of the branches three houses away.* There's no guarantee it'll stay this good, but for now, I'm beyond thrilled.

I'm ready for that Apocalypse now.**

*Keep in mind, every patient's experience with laser vision correction may be different. I am not promoting this, only discussing my own experience. It's a very, VERY personal decision!

**Actually, I'm hoping that since I'm prepared for it, it won't happen, ha ha.

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

Tough Time Troubles

2012-01-13T05:00:00.004-06:00

I have a post on The Lucky 13's on how to get through some writer tough times as a writer. Also, I answer the question of whether or not published authors can produce sunshine and rainbows out of their rear end.

Check it out, if you can.

Today, I am getting my eyeballs lasered, so if I don't comment on your blog, you'll know why. I've finally decided to fix my myopia so I won't be left behind during the upcoming Apocalypse.

I'm joking. Sort of.

Have a great weekend!

Me and My Critic Fairies

2012-01-11T05:00:00.002-06:00

Me and my Critic Fairy Critters

This month's Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog question comes from Sarah, who asks:

"Where do your expectations for your writing (career/skill/quality/achievements) come from? Is the source internal, external, or both? And how do you cope when you don't meet them?"

Oh the pressure.

My expectations for my career come from me. What I want out of a writing career has changed from a spastic "I WANNA WRITE A BOOK!" to a more refined, "I would love a successful, lifelong career in YA fiction writing."

Defining success is a very personal, individual thing. I'm still figuring it out. Good reviews? A certain number of books sold? Both? Just being published (which is already huge for me)? Just writing the stories I want to write? We'll see.

As for the skill and quality of my writing? External or internal? I'd say both.
For me, the external sources of pressure include:

future readers
my crit partners
my agent
my editor
other YA books that blow me away with their story lines and prose

The internal sources of pressure come from me trying my hardest to write a page of a novel that I can read and say, "Wow, this is good. How did I do that?" Something I can be really proud of.

Now, the last question: How do I deal when I don't meet my expectations?

For my career? Ask again later, says the Eight Ball. It's too early.

For my writing, it's revise, revise, and revise. Revision has been the key to my writing skills improving. I hate doing them, but I also love them because they make me a better writer. I set the bar very high for myself. I'm used to reading my writing and knowing when it sucks lemons. Because at the end of the day?

I am my harshest critic.

Medical Mondays: My Armadillo Gave Me Leprosy

2012-01-09T05:00:00.002-06:00

It's one of those days. I woke up and decided to do a post on leprosy. *shrugs*

Leprosy is a very misunderstood disease. People think of sick beggars with fingers and limbs falling off left and right, severe deformities of their face and body, and of course, a horribly contagious disease without any treatment.

Not so! So let's learn some leprosy stuff.

What is it?
Leprosy (also called Hansen's Disease) is caused by a bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae.

How common is it?
In 1985, there were 54 million cases worldwide. In 2010, there were less than 300,000. In the U.S., there were 205 new cases in 2010.

Where is it most commonly found?
In developing countries, like Bangladesh, Brazil, Nigeria, for example. Most of the U.S. cases are from immigrants or those traveling to developing countries.

How do you get it?
It's usually spread through respiratory droplets, similar to the flu or colds. Some cases have been reported after contact with armadillos. Yes! The pill bugs of the animal world!

Do the armadillos suffer from leprosy too?
Most armadillos don't live long enough in the wild to manifest the disease. But in captivity, they do. Up to 20% of the armadillo population is probably affected. They probably got it from humans centuries ago! Yep, OUR fault.

How contagious is it?
Most people exposed to leprosy do NOT get the disease.

What are the symptoms?
Leprosy affects the skin and the nerve endings of the body.
After an exposure, it usually takes 3-5 years before any signs show up.

Skin lesions that can look like circular burn marks, target lesions, thickened reddish patches
Numbness within those skin lesions
Tingling or numbness of the hands and feet
Lumps and nodules on the face and earlobes
Loss of eyebrows and eyelashes
Dryness of the cornea (the clear covering over your iris), abrasions and ulcers
Only in advanced disease, when the numb fingers and feet allow people to get trauma and infections, are there limbs falling off--not directly due to leprosy, but the secondary infections that happen.

Factoids:

The leprosy bacterium grows better in cooler environments, which is why it has a tendency to affect the skin and respiratory tract and armadillos (cooler core body temperature than other animals).
It tends to infect men more than women
It's relatively slow growing
The nerve damage can cause disability to the legs, arms, and eyes can be permanent and cause permanent disability, which is why early treatment is very important.

Is there a vaccine?
Yes. The BCG vaccine (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin) which is usually used outside of the U.S. to prevent tuberculosis, is also over 50% effective in preventing leprosy. Because leprosy is so uncommon in the U.S., this vaccine isn't used here.

What is the treatment?
Antibiotics. Dapsone and rifampin, and sometimes a third agent clofazimine, are used for anywhere from 12 to 24 months of treatment. These medications are highly effective, meaning it's pretty easy to cure leprosy.

Not sure if you're going to run with this and write about leprosy in your next book, but if you do, do me a favor and stick an armadillo in there, okay? :)

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

Please! Help a Writer Out.

2012-01-06T16:36:00.003-06:00

I don't do this very often, but Candace is a dear writing friend and she's proud and brave as can be. It took a lot for her to ask for help.

Stop by her blog and if you can, help out.

From the bottom of my heart, if you do, I thank you.

The Medical Humanities: Where to Submit

2012-01-06T05:00:00.004-06:00

I've been helping to develop a Medical Humanities presence where I work as a primary care doc.

Healthcare can unfortunately be a spirit-draining endeavor. I started writing non-fiction narrative pieces as an outlet early on in my career.

Writing narrative non-fiction was startlingly therapeutic for me, and eventually lead to writing poetry. And that lead to writing fiction.

So I owe a lot to the medical humanities.

If you ever write poetry, fiction, or narrative non-fiction that explores the human condition or the intersection between medicine and life, here is a list of places that might accept your submissions.

For most of these, you don't need to be a doctor or be working in the healthcare environment to submit. Many of these journals also accept photography and artwork, along with poetry, fiction, and narrative non-fiction.

Consider it. The world would be a better place if everyone could share your stories!

Why Did You Start Blogging?

2012-01-04T05:00:00.002-06:00

I've been blogging for nearly two years now. Lately I've been thinking a lot about what role blogging plays in my world as a writer. I'm going to explore this topic a bit more this year, so bear with me. (That phrase is funny. Bear with me. I feel a doodle coming on...)

I started blogging on a whim. People said you need to blog to become a writer, for an agent/publisher wouldn't pick up a writer without a strong online presence.

BUT I was also as freaked out as a kid taking the SAT test with no pencil and no clothes. Yep. Like that. I assumed blogging meant no more private me, showing everyone what a silly person I was, how sadly unpublished and woefully unprepared I was for all things blogging. Still, I dove in with post #1.

So a day after I started blogging, I decided to quit.

But then I thought, "I should blog about wanting to quit blogging" and then post #2 was born. And it kept going, and going...

So how about you? When and why did you start blogging?

**********

This week's Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog question comes from Sarah Fine, who asks:

"Where do your expectations for your writing (career/skill/quality/achievements) come from? Is the source internal, external, or both? And how do you cope when you don't meet them?"

Great question, Sarah! This week, Laura will answer and next week, I'm up!

Medical Mondays: I'm Telekinetic! Almost.

2012-01-02T05:00:00.002-06:00

Hey all, and Happy New Year!

I find the idea of telekinesis fun but faulty. How is it scientifically possible? I'm willing to make allowances for fiction, but in real life, I'm not a believer.

Then I saw this game called MindFlex. Looks like Mattel got a leg up on the paranormal universe, heh heh.

So you wear this headband with electrodes attached to your ears and around your head. Supposedly, it reads electrical brain activity and translates that to powering up a tiny fan in the console. Thus, the ball levitates.

We got if for the kids for Christmas. Okay, um. We got it for us too, since we've played it more than they have! I couldn't get it to work for the longest time (not enough caffeine, maybe?). Finally, I started babbling random things to see what would happen.

Check out what gets my mind totally focused and unfocused!

Mental power is full of electricity and magic, I tell you. Use it to good effect for a very productive 2012!

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

A word on Speedos...

2011-12-28T05:00:00.001-06:00

Just wanted to drop in to remind you that it's Deb Salisbury's turn to see how she answers our Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog question for the month:

"Do you have any formal writing training, or have (or considered) an MFA in creative writing?"

As for me, I am still on a blog vacation until the New Year. I'm still reading (four novels down, more to come!) and am spraining my brain trying to delete images from my recent beach trip (go away Mr. Prancing Greased-Up Mohawk Man With Teeny Red Speedo. Ewwwwwww. Gag.)

There. Now he's in your brain too. Thanks for sharing my pain. Hooa!

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-19T05:00:00.001-06:00

Welcome to all my new followers, and thanks to everyone who joined in the Deja Vu Blogfest last week--it was a huge success!

I'll be taking a blogging break for the holidays and will be back next week.

In the meantime, check out Sarah Fine's Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog post on Wednesday December 21st about whether she's had or considered formal writing training, MFAs, etc during her writing career.

Enjoy your holiday!

Stay safe.

Stay warm.

And most of all, stay entertained! (In other words, read a book!) I plan on reading three. ;)

Déjà Vu Blogfest: A Curse, and a Secret!

2011-12-16T04:00:00.000-06:00

Hello and welcome to the Déjà Vu Blogfest! Hosted by DL Hammons, Creepy Query Girl, Nicole Ducleroir and yours truly!

Oh, but it was hard to pick an old post to recycle today. Though there has been good news to backflip over recently, and more good news, I've decided to share a little secret, via this Medical Mondays post from September of 2011. I was in the trenches then, studying for my Internal Medicine Boards.

Here we go!

*****

Well, ha. This was inevitable.

I'm trying to keep myself in study mode, but I KNEW sooner or later I'd learn some factoid I'd feel compelled to share with you guys.

So I'm taking a brief break to tell you about Ondine's Curse.

It's an extremely rare medical condition in which a person can only breath voluntarily.

Meaning...if they fall sleep, they don't breathe and can die.

Ugh!!!

How can that be, you ask? Well, in the congenital form in infants, it's often fatal. It's so rare, doctors don't usually look for it. But in adults, it's caused by an auto accident, stroke, or neurosurgical complication to the centers of the brain that control breathing. They often need to use a ventilator machine to breath at night or an electronic device to zap their diaphragm muscle into helping them breathe.

The name Ondine's Curse comes from a German myth. Ondine was a water nymph in love with a mortal man. She gave up her immortality when she fell in love with him and bore him a child. He had promised, "Every waking breath will be a testament to my love for you."

When he became unfaithful, she cursed him—if he ever fell asleep, his breath would be taken from him and he would die. Eventually, from exhaustion, the man did fall asleep. And he succumbed to the curse.

!!!!

*****

Why did I pick this for the blogfest? Well, after I wrote this post last year, I couldn't stop thinking about Ondine's Curse. I'd get short of breath imagining living life with this ailment. How a person would have such an odd relationship with air, and sleeping, and...existing.

So here's the secret: one of the main characters in my novel, The Fountain, suffers from Ondine's curse.

I originally started Medical Mondays to give back and share my medical skills with the writing community. I honestly didn't expect it to come full circle and inspire me in such a significant way.

Thanks for stopping by! I'm looking forward to reading all your recycled and awesome posts!

University of Writer Blogs and Betas

2011-12-14T05:00:00.011-06:00

This month's Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog's question is by yours truly:

“What formal writing experience do you have? (classes, degrees, major/minors). Did it shape your writing?Have you ever considered getting an MFA?”

I took a creative writing class in college. Most of the time, everyone got overshadowed by the one kid who could write an O. Henry ending like nobody's business.
I majored in Biology/Pre-Med, and minored in English. The minor was an excuse to pump blood into the right side of my brain, via Children's Lit and 19th Century English literature.

Ummmmm. That's it.

A few years ago, I started writing poetry and was tempted to apply for an MFA, but even the low res program was too time consuming.

Then when I started writing fiction, I figured I was too awful to subject myself to classes. I did join a writer's workshop for writers and doctors for a few years, but I wouldn't call that formal training.

Nope. I went to the University of Writer Blogs and Betas.

My amazing betas and crit partners taught me so much. Show vs tell, ratcheting up the tension, plotting, killing clichés...you name it, they taught me. And then there are all the writer blogs I've visited over the last few years. You guys keep teaching me, and I'm more than willing to keep learning.

So thank you again, everyone. Thanks for being my professors!

Laura Diamond posted last week, and Sarah and Deb will be up soon!

(Psst. Does anyone think it's funny that MFA and LMFAO are, er, similar? Just sayin'. Having an immature moment here...*snort*)

Medical Mondays: Ancient Birth Control

2011-12-12T06:00:00.006-06:00

Good Monday to you all. Today, Luanne Smith of Bards and Prophets has a fascinating question for her novel.

"My character (this is in a post-apocalyptic setting) needs to be able to prevent pregnancy without *ahem* abstaining. There was/is a ferula plant (Silphium) that was said to be used in ancient times as a contraceptive. Apparently plants in this group have high levels of estrogen-like properties in them.

What I need to know is how would a plant like this be prescribed? Assuming it was readily available, would it need to be ingested everyday like the pill? Also, what side effects might my character experience after taking something like that for an extended amount of time (besides pregnancy, of course)?"

I've always found the need to control fertility a fascinating historical (and contemporary) subject. I even did a research paper on historical methods of birth control in med school. (Stones as IUDs? Crocodile dung as a spermicide? That's just a tiny bit of what I'd found.)

Herbal medicine has long been used as a means of controlling fertility. In a futuristic scenario, it would be conceivable (*ha ha*) that women might have to turn back to nature for contraceptive means.

Silphium is actually a now-extinct plant that was used in ancient Egypt and Greece, amongst other places. In fact, the heart-shaped seed may be the origin of why the heart shape is associated with romance.
photo credit
Silphium probably belonged in the genus Ferula, many of which are called "giant fennel." Although in the same family as true fennel, Ferula isn't truly a fennel plant.

These plants grow in the arid climates of western Asia and the Mediterranean region. In ancient Greek texts, there is plentiful discussion of using the Silphium juice once monthly to both prevent conception and as an abortifacient as well. Silphium's popularity in the ancient world may have led to its extinction.

So which Ferula plant might be used in Luanne's story? Possibly a species called Ferula Asafoetida.

photo credit

Yes, you read that right. There is a "fetid" in that name. Some have called it "Devil's Dung." All parts of the plant have a pungent, fetid odor. However, the dried gum of the plant root, once cooked, has a more palatable onion/garlic flavor and it still used today in some kitchens around the world.

Medicinally, Asafoetida is a natural antiviral (it was studied as a treatment for H1N1 flu), aids digestion and reduces flatulence (maybe it should be marketed as Anti-Fetid?), as an asthma treatment, and an anti-seizure medicine.

Asafoetida is also a commonly known contraceptive and abortifaciant. However, I had some trouble finding out how it would be used as such. Silphium was taken once monthly. The juice of the plant (maybe half a teaspoonful) was enough to do the job. When thinking of how herbs are used medicinally, consider these methods:

Extract (herb soaked in alcohol, strong concentration of herb)
Tincture (herb soaked in alcohol, weaker concentration of herb)
Infusion (herb soaked in hot water)
Decoction (herb boiled in water)
Ingested directly. (In Luanne's case, the gum from the root of the plant was cooked and eaten with food. This is the most likely method used, but again, I'm just guessing.)
Applied topically (like in a poultice)
Boiled and steam inhaled
Burned and smoke inhaled

Since Asafoetida has been long used as a spice, likely there is no serious long term side effect from taking it continuously, but of course there aren't any studies on this.

One last thing. Ferula Asafoetida grows mainly in India, Afghanistan, and Iran. For contraceptive herbs native to North America, also consider:

Black Cohosh
Wild Carrot (related to Ferula)
Queen Anne's lace (also related to Ferula)
Smartweed (Polygonum Hydropiper)

Here are some references I used to research this question. Good luck, Luanne!

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

Author Spotlight: Dawn Miller

2011-12-09T05:00:00.008-06:00

Welcome Dawn to our Author Spotlight. Her book, Larkstorm, just went live on December 6th. Here we go!

What advice do you have for people who want to self-publish?

Take things slowly and treat it as a business. I believe all writers – self-published or not – need to be familiar with the business side of publishing. Just like a business should never open its doors without a plan, a writer shouldn’t throw a book up on the internet without having goals and a plan for reaching them.

Marketing is an absolute necessity because you can write the most amazing book ever, but if no one knows about it, then it’s not going to sell. Selling on the internet, we don’t have the luxury of the casual bookshelf browser – we need to let people know our books exist.

How do you manage to do so much in 24 hours?

I don’t sleep. At least that’s the rumor. In reality, I wake up around 4:30 or 5am everyday and either go for a run or go to the gym. I home school my oldest son – a 5^th grader – while my other two boys are at school. My afternoons consist of carpools, sports practice, homework and dinner. I put my children to bed at 7pm and typically write until around 11. Since I have an iPhone, I do much of my social networking and email on the go.

Is there a different genre you might like to try and write someday?

Larkstorm is a dystopian fantasy crossover, and while I love writing those genres, I wrote a contemporary boy POV romance I hope someday sees the light of day. I also ghostwrite a commercial contemporary YA series and absolutely love it. So, short answer: I’d like to write contemporary.

What is something about yourself that most people don’t know or would be surprised to know?

I’m dyslexic and have a difficult time reading out loud. I stumble over words and struggle with simple pronunciations. But, like I tell my son who is also dyslexic, that doesn’t mean we can’t write, or tell stories, or speak in public. We just have to work harder. And I think that makes success all the more sweet.

In the years following the destructive Long Winter, when half the world’s population perished, the State remains locked in battle against the Sensitives: humans born with extra abilities.   

As one of the last descendants of the State’s Founders, seventeen-year-old Lark Greene knows her place: study hard and be a model citizen so she can follow in her family’s footsteps. Her life’s been set since birth, and she’s looking forward to graduating and settling down with Beck, the boy she’s loved longer than she can remember.   

However, after Beck is accused of being Sensitive and organizing an attack against Lark, he disappears. Heartbroken and convinced the State made a mistake, Lark sets out to find him and clear his name.   

But what she discovers is more dangerous and frightening than Sensitives: She must kill the boy she loves, unless he kills her first.

Available on Amazon

and Smashwords

Twitter Website

Book Buying Budget

2011-12-07T05:00:00.001-06:00

I just bought another book.

I'm feeling both elated (Ooooh! New plucky protagonist! Shiny new cover! Squee!) and guilty (What about the library? Hmmmm? Haven't I spent enough money on books this year? Is this habit tax deductible yet?).

Sometimes I've borrowed from the local library, but I'm always worried about crumbing in them. The books, that is, not the library (I have a terrible habit of snacking and reading). Or not being able to borrow what I really want, when I want it.

Every time I get a new book, that same swirl of emotions surrounds me. Excitement. Guilt. Glee. Embarrassment.

True, most of the bad feeling disappears when I open up those crisp pages and inhale the new world at my fingertips.

So I'm curious. Do you have a book budget? Or do you blissfully ignore the bottom line when it comes to reading? Maybe something in between?

*********

Don't forget to drop by Laura Diamond's blog today where she answers this month's Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog question: Have you had any formal writing training? Ever thought about getting an MFA, or have one?

Also, don't forget to sign up for our Deja Vu Blogfest for December 16th! It's right around the corner!

Medical Mondays: Münchausen Trifecta!

2011-12-05T05:00:00.004-06:00

photo credit

Today, Laura Diamond, Sarah Fine and I are tackling a topic together. It's called Münchausen syndrome.

It's a psychiatric, factitious disorder whereby people fake illnesses for attention and sympathy.

Ever heard of it? It's named after Baron Von Münchausen (1720-1797), who told many fantastic and untruthful tales about his adventures. His stories were later told in a novel by Rudolf Erich Raspe, and also in a 1988 film, The Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen. (Remember Uma Thurman as the Goddess Venus?)

Sarah Fine is going to tackle Münchausen's by Proxy, which occurs when parents sicken their own children to get attention as the "concerned parent."

Laura Diamond is going to tackle the psychiatric aspects of Münchausen's syndrome.

And I'll tackle some of the medical aspects of Münchausen's.

First of all, Münchausen's is different from malingering.

Malingering is when people fake their illness for secondary gain. Secondary gain can include money (for a lawsuit), getting out of military duty, getting out of prison for the "nicer" environment of the prison hospital, getting out of school (see Ferris Bueller's Day Off), getting out of prison ("I swear I was crazy when I killed that guy!"), getting prescription drugs, etc. Also, see my vomiting chicken blood post.

It's also different from Somatoform Disorders, when people have physical symptoms without any overt abnormalities on tests. These people aren't faking their suffering.

In Münchausen's, the person fakes an illness because they find the attention of medical personnel and the medical environment comforting and pleasant. From the doctor's side of this, it can be extremely frustrating.

Here's a story that I heard when I was a medical student.

A man came to the hospital with excruciating abdominal pain. He was at a party the night before when he clinked glasses with guests. After drinking his champagne, he realized his glass had broken during the toast and splinter-sized shards were at the bottom of his glass. He was convinced he'd swallowed some splinters.

Though normally glass should be seen on an X-ray, tiny shards might be missed. He had an endoscopy, which revealed nothing. He was ready to have an exploratory surgery to remove the possible glass shards from his gut when my attending (who I believe was a rotating resident at the time) said, "Hey. You look very familiar. Didn't you come to the ER at another hospital with the same problem last month?"

The patient immediately left and never came back.

Yes, he was willing to have an unnecessary, major surgery. And needle pokes, and endoscopies, and radiation. But he also got a load of concerned doctors, nurses, and staff who thought, "This poor man! He needs our help!"

Here's another one.

A woman came in with fevers and signs of a blood bacterial infection gone out of control. After antibiotics and an ICU stay, she recovered. There was no obvious cause for the infection, and doctors were confused as to why several types of bacteria grew in her blood. (Normally in blood infections, there is just one bacteria involved.)

After a second bout of sepsis with multiple bacteria, the hospital staff suspected Munchausen's. The patient was then observed surreptitiously injecting herself intravenously with a liquid mixture made from her own feces.

And on, and on, and on. There are thousands of stories like these, sadly. People injecting themselves with insulin to get hypoglycemic; people rubbing dirt and spit into their wounds to prolong a hospital stay...sounds impossible? It's not. I've seen a bunch of them myself.

Many patients with Munchausen's will go to several doctors and/or hospitals for treatment ("doctor hopping"). They may move to different states so they can do it again, or change their names. And they're willing to undergo unnecessary, even dangerous, evaluations to do so and put their very lives at risk.

From the medical side, the key to finding out someone has Munchausen's is part science, and part luck. Doctors have an obligation to make sure there truly isn't a dangerous medical condition before they blame something on Munchausen's--because that kind of accusation is extremely serious. But when the data doesn't add up (like the multiple bacteria in the blood, above) or suspicious behavior is found, then we suspect Munchausen's. I have heard that video cameras can be used to prove cases of Munchausen's by proxy, but I'm not sure about regular Munchausen's.

It can be particularly difficult to diagnose if the patient already has real medical problems, and/or has educated themselves about certain illnesses--how they present, what "alarm" words to use to make doctors sit up and take notice.

Can you imagine what's it's like to have Münchausen's? Can you imagine having one of your characters with this syndrome?

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

Fairy Tale Plotholes

2011-12-02T05:00:00.001-06:00

Hey all!

You know, once you get better at writing, doesn't it seem like somebody hands you a pair of Plot-Hole-Seeking-X-Ray glasses?

I love fairy tales, but once in a while, they bug me. Like, imagine if Snow White was written like this:

Once upon a time, there was a vain Queen who wanted to be the most beautiful woman in the land. Her magic mirror told her, "There is another who is the fairest than thee, O Queen. Her name is Snow White."

So the Queen goes to her dungeon and brews a powerful liquid, TOPF (Tincture of Pizza Face). And thus, beautiful Snow White was afflicted with the worst case of incurable acne even seen in Fairytale land.

The End.

Have your writing abilities ruined a few stories for you?

Members Only

2011-11-30T05:00:00.003-06:00

No, I never had a Member's Only jacket in the 80's. Not sure if that makes me cool now, or a dweeb then.

Lately, I've been part of a closed writers' forum on Facebook. I'm also part of a locked forum on Rallystorm. Though I'm also active in the Querytracker forums, there's something nice about being able to celebrate/complain/babble on a private forum.

It's been both a stress reliever as well as a place where I don't have to worry about asking stupid questions.

Do you belong to a locked forum online? Where do you go when you need to vent privately about writing, without the universe listening in?

Medical Mondays: Step into Outer Space

2011-11-28T05:00:00.009-06:00

Today, I'm tackling Fiona L's great question from a few weeks ago:

"My fictional scenario has to do with space. Or generally, when you take oxygen out of a room. What will happen to the person? How long will it take for them to realise they can't breathe? What symptoms come first and how long before they kaputz... And out of curiosity, why oxygen? What's so special about oxygen that we need? Why not any other types..."

Oxygen. How I love thee, let my brain count the ways...
See this formula?

C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6 O₂ + 38 ADP + 38 phosphate → 6 CO₂ + 6 H₂O + 38 ATP

In non-chemistry speak, that means "sugar + oxygen = energy."

This is one of the many equations for why we're alive. Without oxygen and glucose, you can't live.

And out of curiosity, why oxygen? Why not nitrogen, or helium? (See the Botanist's great comment below--well said!) Without getting all Carl Sagan-ish on you, basically, that's how life on earth simply is. Life is based on carbon building blocks (like sugar, and protein, etc) and oxygen as the means to make it run. Perhaps on another planets or systems, things could evolve to run on other elements? I'm sure a chemist would laugh at me for saying that, but it's fun to imagine.

When you take oxygen out of a room, what will happen to the person?
So your body needs oxygen, particularly your brain. When it doesn't get enough blood supply (meaning the delivery of oxygen), it stops working = you pass out. In an oxygen-less environment, that might take a minute, more or less.

What Fiona's question is dancing around, though, is what about if you were in a vacuum? Like in outer space? That doesn't mean a room without oxygen, or even a room with a Hoover. It means a room without ANYTHING, including pressure and air.

If a person took a foolish, naked step off the Space Shuttle, they'd encounter the following:

no oxygen
no pressure
extremely low temperatures

Living on earth means we are in a tightly pressurized cocoon of oxygen and other gases, courtesy of our atmosphere, which sticks to the earth because of gravity. At or above the Armstrong limit, around 62,000 feet above the earth's surface, the lack of pressure will cause oxygen dissolved in human blood to form bubbles. Yeah, that's boiling blood.

Now, at 62,000 feet, your body's tissues and skin are tough enough to keep up the pressure within the body so you don't explode, but you will start to have serious symptoms of altitude sickness, caused by these forming bubbles in the blood and tissues. Also, if it's a sudden exposure, the symptoms are worse.

In space, what would happen?

Without a spacesuit and with full body exposure to space's vacuum, you'd last maybe with 15 seconds of consciousness.
If they could get you back on the shuttle immediately, into a re-compression chamber and with intensive medical care, you might survive.
Before you passed out, you'd notice your saliva boiling off your tongue (this is not "hot," temperature wise--it would be the sensation of liquid quickly bubbling and vaporizing away), fluid/blood frothing in your lungs, mouth and eyes, and maybe the extreme cold temperature (well below zero).
Soon, your heart would stop (asystole, or "flat lined" at the 2 minute mark, or probably earlier--see my comment about the Soyuz 11 disaster in the the comments section), and the entire time, gas bubbles would expand in your body. Blood vessels would pop through your skin as your blood vaporized into space. Some of it would coagulate on your skin or air passageways. Your lungs would suffer from popped air passages filling with boiling and/or coagulating blood.
At the five minute mark, your heart and brain are permanently damaged and frying away. And yes, at this point, you're probably very dead.

A fascinating, if not ewwww-ish topic for today. Thanks Fiona!

There were a few references I used to research this topic.

Can you survive space without a spacesuit? This is a good one. In the sci-fi movie Sunshine, a guy takes a spacewalk with a suit and survives. This article explains how it might have made sense.

Ebullism at 1 million feet: The human struggle with altitude. There are examples of people surviving explosive decompression above the Armstrong limit. I did not make up the boiling saliva comment, it's from this reference.

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

Interview! Neuroses, blogging, silliness, oh my!

2011-11-26T09:00:00.003-06:00

Hi all! Laura Barnes over at Laura B Writer kindly invited me for an interview.

I shall discuss things such as my eleventh toe and its dubious existence, cold fusion, and Elvis, amongst other things.

Oh, and real topics, like blogging, writing, and momming. (Yes, I made up a new verb, just for this interview! What fun!)

Looking For Solace

2011-11-18T05:00:00.004-06:00

I like to joke that I can somehow squeeze 25 hours into my day, but lately it seems more like 26 and I'm still not getting everything done.

I recently joined The Lucky 13's blog of 2013 debut authors, which I'm thrilled about. There's a new (and exciting) project at work. Then there's family. ~~And exercising.~~ And errands. And blogging. And finishing my MG novel. And starting on the sequel to THE FOUNTAIN. And the upcoming turkey I'm going to kill (metaphorically, as in, burn into a bird-shaped charcoal briquette). And those unplanned, Most Highly Inconvenient Viruses that like to settle into our household. (Yes, I capitalized that. They deserve that kind of respect, the little monsters.)

Sometimes I wish I could be here again:

Temple of Dendur
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC (photo credit)

Back in college when I felt melancholic in that emo sorta way that only college kids can, I'd go here with my journal (STOP LAUGHING AT ME) to write and sketch.

I loved the silence. I loved the beauty. I loved that self-imposed isolation.

Don't get me wrong--the craziness of my life is actually a blessing. I'm very, VERY lucky to have all these First World "problems."

But sometimes, I'd love to transport myself hundreds of miles in a blink, just to spend a few hours in that Temple. No iPhone, no laptop, no pager, nothing.

Okay, maybe a good book. :)

How about you? Where do you go for solace?

****

I'll be taking a blogging hiatus for a week to spend time with family and analyze the best way to denature a Meleagris gallopavo just so (aka, cooking a turkey).
In case you missed it and want to sound all smarty-pants at Thanksgiving, check out my Medical Mondays from last year on Turkey and Tryptophan.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Déjà Vu Blogfest!

2011-11-16T05:00:00.006-06:00

Hey guys! DL Hammons had this great idea for a blogfest, and together with Creepy Query Girl and Nicole Ducleroir, we bring you...

The Déjà Vu Blogfest

Ever feel like you know you missed that one kick-ass post of a favorite blogger somewhere, somehow?

This is your chance to do some major catching up, and re-post a favorite blog post of your own that NEEDS to see the light of day one more time.

All you have to do is click on the Mr. Linky below to sign up. Please spread the word with our blogfest badge above!

And on December 16, re-post your favorite/most informative/most life-changing announcement/most ANYTHING blog post you want to re-share with the world.

Don't let a great post fade away into the ever-expanding blogosphere without one more shout-out!

****

Aaaand, don't forget to stop by Sarah's blog where she answers this month's question of "Are you NaNoing? Why or why not?" Check out previous answers by Laura and myself, and stay tuned for Deb's answer next week!

Medical Mondays: Foxglove: Pretty. Helpful. Deadly.

2011-11-14T05:00:00.004-06:00

(photo credit)

I've had a fascination with herbal medicine since before I was in medical school. Isn't it interesting that a pretty flower in your garden could also be on the shelf of your local pharmacy?

Case in point--Digitalis purpurea, or Foxglove. Also known as:

Bloody Fingers
Dead Man's Bells
Fairy Folk's Fingers
Lamb's Tongue Leaves
Lady's Gloves

Foxglove is a beautiful, ornamental plant with pointed, oval leaves that are slightly hairy. The leaves, flowers and seeds all contain the compounds digoxin and digitoxin, which affect the heart.

It was first reported in medical literature by William Withering in 1785 as a treatment for irregular, fast heart rates (most likely atrial fibrillation) and dropsy, which was an English term for leg swelling that often accompanied congestive heart failure. Historically, it may have also been used to treat epilepsy, though this has since been proven to be ineffective.

Today, it's still used to treat both atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure under the names digoxin, digitoxin, Crystodigin, and Lanoxin. It has not been proven to reduce mortality in these illnesses, and is currently being used less and less frequently.

Digoxin/digitoxin also has a very narrow therapeutic index. Too little of the drug and it doesn't help; too much causes serious toxicity. The window between these two thresholds is very tiny.

Toxicity can cause:

death
loss of appetite
nausea, vomiting and diarrhea
jaundiced "yellow" vision
blurry vision
dangerous arrythmias, including slowed heart rate

Here are some interesting factoids about "dig" (pronounced "dij,"as we call it in the medical world.)

Vincent Van Gogh may have been treated with digoxin. Some theorize that his Yellow Period was due to digitalis toxicity, and the blurry stars of "Starry Night" might be evidence of toxicity as well. (photo credits)

In 2003, Charles Cullen murdered 40 patients by administering fatal doses of digoxin while he cared for them as a nurse.
The antidote to dig toxicity is called Digibind or DigiFab, which is an antibody that binds to digoxin.
Reports of poisoning have occurred after children drank the water from a vase being used to display foxglove.
The plant is toxic to cattle, dogs and cats.
Poisoning has occurred in people brewing tea from foxglove leaves after they mistook them for innocuous comfrey leaves. Both plants have similar appearing furry leaves.
Foxglove was one of the many herbs used in the prehistoric Clan of the Cave Bear books by Jean Auel.

Neat huh? Next time you see Foxglove in a garden (or need it in a novel) remember this post!

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

All I ask is that you become a follower and post a link on your blog when I post your answer. This is for fictional scenarios, only! Please check out the boring but necessary disclaimer on my sidebar --->

Also, don't forget to stop by Laura Diamond's Mental Health Mondays and Sarah Fine's The Strangest Situation for great psychiatric and psychological viewpoints on all things literary. :)

Author Spotlight: Jessica Bell!

2011-11-11T06:00:00.006-06:00

I've known Jess almost since the day I started blogging. This is a woman with so many facets to her talent, she's practically a walking disco ball, but way cooler. :)

Today is THE day to help Jessica Bell's debut, STRING BRIDGE, hit the bestseller list on Amazon, and receive the all-original soundtrack, Melody Hill: On the Other Side, written and performed by the author herself, for free!

All you have to do is purchase the book today (paperback, or eBook), November 11th, and then email the receipt to:
jessica.carmen.bell(at)gmail(dot)com

She will then email you a link to download the album at no extra cost!

To purchase the paperback:

Amazon USA
Amazon UK

To purchase the eBook:

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

To listen to samples of the soundtrack, visit iTunes.

If you aren't familiar with String Bridge, check out the book trailer:

Rave Reviews for String Bridge:

“Jessica Bell’s STRING BRIDGE strummed the fret of my veins, thrummed my blood into a mad rush, played me taut until the final page, yet with echoes still reverberating. A rhythmic debut with metrical tones of heavied dark, fleeting prisms of light, and finally, a burst of joy—just as with any good song, my hopeful heartbeat kept tempo with Bell’s narrative.”
~ Kathryn Magendie, author of Sweetie and Publishing Editor of Rose & Thorn Journal

“Poet and musician Jessica Bell's debut novel String Bridge is a rich exploration of desire, guilt, and the difficult balancing act of the modern woman. The writing is lyrical throughout, seamlessly integrating setting, character and plot in a musical structure that allows the reader to identify with Melody's growing insecurity as her world begins to unravel…
String Bridge is a powerful debut from a promising writer, full of music, metaphor, and just a hint of magic.”
~ Magdalena Ball, author of Repulsion Thrust and Sleep Before Evening

“Jessica Bell is a brilliant writer of great skill and depth. She doesn't pull back from the difficult scenes, from conflict, pain, intensity. She puts it all out there, no holds barred, no holding back. She knows how to craft a scene, how to develop character, how to create suspense. This is an absolutely brilliant debut novel. I look forward to reading her next novel, and next and next.”

~ Karen Jones Gowen, author of Farm Girl, Uncut Diamonds and House of Diamonds

Connect with Jessica:

String Bridge: http://www.stringbridge.com/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/jessica_bell
Website: http://www.jessicacbell.com/
Blog: http://thealliterativeallomorph.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/author.jessica.bell
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MsBessieBell
Publisher: http://www.luckypress.com

Please TWEET and/or FACEBOOK this post using #StringBridge!

Contest Winners & A NoNonsense Nod to NaNo

2011-11-09T05:00:00.003-06:00

Thank you all for participating in my giveaway and spreading the word. After hitting the button on Random.org, I'm happy to announce the winners!

Nicole Ducleroir: $20 Bookstore Gift Card
Julie Dao: $15 Bookstore Gift Card
VB Tremper: Lauren DeStefano's Wither
Meredith (@ Fairytales and Cappuccino): Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution
LC Frost: Jackson Pearce's Sisters Red
Carol Riggs: Franny Billingsly's Chime
LisaAnn: Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere
Rachel Searles: Query critique or first five pages critique

Congrats, and thanks to everyone for participating. I'll be emailing the winners with more deets on the prizes. :)

*****

Let's move on to this month's Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog question from Laura:

"Do you do NaNoWriMo? Why or why not?"

NaNo and I don't mix well. Kind of like drinking orange juice after brushing my teeth. It never works, no matter how often I think it might be okay. I mean, brushing teeth is okay, as is orange juice. But the timing is just off.

Every November, I'm always either revising (remember NaNoRevMo?), or outlining, or nearly finishing another project.

This year? I'm doing all three in the month of November.

So I tip my hat to you NaNoers. Or, since hats look profoundly stupid on me, I'll do my NaNo nod (akin to a bobble-head puppy). Good luck guys!

How about you? Do you NaNo?

Check out Laura's answer from last week, and Sarah and Deb's in the next weeks!

Medical Mondays: Traumatized into Blindness

2011-11-07T05:00:00.005-06:00

This week's Medical Mondays question comes from Margo Berendsen, who asks:

"Can you explain how a person might go blind after a severe trauma, rather than by disease?"

Excellent topic. What used to be called hysterical blindness is now more correctly called conversion disorder, which is a subset of somatoform disorders, according to the DSM-IV.

In order to be considered a true case of conversion disorder, the person cannot be deliberately faking it and the symptoms cannot be explained by a known medical/neurologic illness. There is usually an associated trauma that is linked to the symptoms, sometimes many years prior to the onset of the symptom. This trauma could be a conflict, stressor, or other severe emotional trauma.

Besides blindness, other types of symptoms have been observed, such as:

inability to speak (aphonia)
paralysis
numbness
siezures
fainting
loss of hearing
movement problems (like getting stuck in a position, or having a tremor)

Often, these symptoms can be treated by identifiying the traumatic cause, with treatment of any associated anxiety or depression, with psychological and psychiatric therapy, as well as physical therapy.

Thanks Margo for the great question!

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

Also, don't forget to stop by Laura Diamond's Mental Health Mondays and Sarah Fine's The Strangest Situation for great psychiatric and psychological viewpoints on all things literary. :)

Author Spotlight: Maranda Russell and her Ravenclawish Tendencies

2011-11-04T05:00:00.005-05:00

Weeeeelllllccccommmmeee! (Hmm. I sound like Mrs. Which from A Wrinkle in Time.) Say hello to Maranda! Isn't that a great picture? Where can I get a hat like that? Should I stop asking questions so we can get on with the interview? Yes? Okay.

1. If you decided to self-publish, what was the final push that allowed that decision?
I have been published traditionally and more recently, done some self-publishing. I think the reason I decided to do some self-publishing is because I like having full control over the process. I like getting to decide what goes and what stays, what the graphics look like, and how much it costs. Self-publishing wasn't very practical when it was so expensive, but now that ebooks can be self-published for free, the only investment you have to make is your time, hard work and the ability to market your books yourself.

2. How do you juggle your personal life with writing?
It is a challenge sometimes. I used to work as a substitute teacher, take care of foster kids and write. Now I have had to cut back on the teaching and focus primarily on my responsibilities as a foster parent and on my writing career. Writing and foster parenting are what I am most passionate about, so it doesn't feel like such a sacrifice when I have to go above and beyond the call of duty for either.

3. Do you snack when you write? And what is that snack?
I do snack when I'm writing, especially when the words aren't coming easily or I get stuck. When I am in the flow I can get so carried away I even miss meals, but that only happens occasionally. My favorite writing snacks are definitely sweets: candy, ice cream, cookies, sugary cereal, etc.

4. Which Harry Potter House would you be sorted into?
Probably Ravenclaw.

(I'm going to interrupt for a *squee* moment. I think I'm a Ravenclaw too!)

I'm not courageous or always hard-working, in fact I can be downright lazy. I can be ambitious, so maybe Slytherin, but I am more intellectual, so I figure Ravenclaw would be the best fit. I am in love with Severus Snape though, so I definitely wouldn't mind being placed in Slytherin!

Kaley Jergins loved her life. She had it all, the perfect family, good friends, and the talent and passion to be a great ball player. However, when tragedy strikes and the person she loves most of all is no longer there, will she ever be able to play again?

Told with warmth and feeling, this story comes from an author who knows what it is like to deal with loss at a young age. Nothing is ever the same after a tragic loss, but maybe life can go on. Includes an afterword by the author about grief and how to deal with it in a healthy way.

Available on AMAZON

Find Maranda at her blog and on Facebook!

The EPIC Giveaway of Maximum Splendiferousness

2011-11-02T03:00:00.003-05:00

I couldn't think of a post today. What do I do when I have blog writer's block?

Give some stuff away, that's what.

I have two things to celebrate (oops, I almost spelled that "celebart" which sounds like something I don't want to eat, smell or purchase anytime soon):

Reaching 1000 Followers and selling my book. Time to share the happiness!

What's up for grabs?

1. $20 Gift Card to a bookstore of your choice.
2. $15 Gift Card to a bookstore of your choice.
3. Lauren DeStefano's Wither
4. Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution
5. Jackson Pearce's Sisters Red
6. Franny Billingsly's Chime
7. Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere
8. Query critique or first five pages critique--as gentle or ruthless as you'd like.

The contest rules:

1. Leave a comment on my blog with your email addy
2. Let me know if there's something in particular you want to win, or not win
3. Extra points for blogging>FB/Google+ >sidebar>tweeting. Let me know what you're doing, and I'll throw lots of extra points in. I'll even do the math for you.

Contest ends on Tuesday November 8th at 6PM. Winners will be announced Wednesday November 9th.

Spread the word like it's the most contagious rash you never want to get.

Because I want to give some stuff away!

***

Okay--also, don't forget to check out Laura Diamond's Sisterhood post on "Are you NaNoing? Why or why not?" Next week, I'm up!

Medical Mondays: Licorice Ick!

2011-10-31T05:00:00.004-05:00

(photo source)

In honor of Halloween, I wanted to talk about candy. Of course too much candy isn't good for you, but can it actually land you in the hospital?

Licorice can.

Licorice come from the root of the plant Glycyrrhiza glabra. It's been used for centuries as a flavoring, sweetener, and medicine.

(Photo source)

Though anise and fennel taste like licorice, they are unrelated.

The main compound responsible for licorice's distinct flavor and pharmaceutical effects is glycyrrhizin. Glycyrrhizin is 50 times as sweet as table sugar. Besides being used in drinks, teas and candies, licorice is also added to tobacco products.

Licorice root extract has been studied in the use of a wide variety of illnesses, including:

viral hepatitis
Kaposi's sarcoma
stomach and mouth ulcers
bowel conditions, such s Crohn's disease and irritable bowel

However, excessive glycyrrhizic acid has been shown to cause problems, such as:

water retention and swelling
low potassium levels
heart failure
elevated blood pressures

So how much is safe? Apparently, the safe daily amount of licorice is 50 grams a day. That's 12 licorice jellybeans. Not much, right?

Apparently, a British woman had to be hospitalized for licorice poisoning after consuming 200 grams of candy per day. That's a 48 black jellybean-per-day habit! Man. I knew there was a reason why I avoided those black jellybeans. And it's not all about those gunky black teeth either.

Happy Halloween everyone. Hope it doesn't land you in the hospital!

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

Also, don't forget to stop by Laura Diamond's Mental Health Mondays and Sarah Fine's The Strangest Situation for great psychiatric and psychological viewpoints on all things literary. :)

Author Spotlight: Jessie Harrell

2011-10-28T05:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday! Welcome to another Author Spotlight. This week we have Jessie Harrell, who's both a writer and a lawyer. With me as a doc in the house, all we need now is a priest and we'd have the makings of a good joke, I'm sure. :) Take it away, Jessie!

How do you develop a mental picture of your characters?

I like to find pictures of actual people who I think look like the character's image I have in my mind's eye. For example, this shot of Heidi Klum encapsulated the image I had for Aphrodite.

(photo source)

(It may be too early in the morning for Heidi. I think I got a new wrinkle just looking at her.)

I printed all of my images, tacked them to a bulletin board behind my desk, and then referred to the faces whenever I was stuck. Having a real person to look at and think - what facial expression would he make? - was a great help.

If you decided to self-publish, what was the final push that allowed that decision?

Honestly, it was being so close to having a home for DESTINED, but not trusting a smaller publisher to give it the love I thought it deserved. I had several "near misses" with agents and smaller presses (and one offer from a smaller press), but after getting some good advice from industry experts, I decided to take on the challenge of self-publishing. Trust me, this was not a decision I made lightly. I've been researching the industry for over three years and I knew I had to have an amazing cover, a knock-story and avoid editing mistakes. So, I've hired professionals all along the way and forced myself not to rush the process.

Timing also played a role in my decision because I've been working on DESTINED since long before Greek mythology became "hot" in YA lit, but I also know trends don't last. I wanted DESTINED to come out this year with other titles like The Goddess Test and Starcrossed, which pretty much meant I needed to publish it myself.

How did you decide to get into writing?

My husband and I are both attorneys, and like any career, we've both had our moments of dissatisfaction. Not long after our daughters were born (2005 and 2006), we had a growing collection of picture books lying around and my husband said, "We should write picture books. How hard can that be?" And from there it snowballed.

While he bought books like Writing Children's Books for Dummies, I actually took an online course in writing that had us sample all the different genres (from board books to YA). Although I still have some picture book ideas floating around, my inability to say anything quickly or succinctly made me realize writing from tots would be a lot harder for me than writing for teens. A few SCBWI conferences, years of writing practice, and lots of help from CPs, beta readers and the folks at #yalitchat, and here I am!

What's on your bucket list?

I've always wanted to ride a camel near the pyramids of Egypt. (And I have to mention that I just crossed three things off my bucket list on my last vacation -- zip-lining through a rain forest, cave tubing, and jumping off a rock - granted it didn't qualify as a cliff, but that's as close as I ever plan to come.)

When Psyche receives a prophecy gone horribly wrong, she learns that even the most beautiful girl in Greece can have a hideous future. Her fate? Fall in love with the one creature even the gods fear.

As she feels herself slipping closer into the arms of the prophecy, Psyche must choose between the terrifyingly tender touch she feels almost powerless to resist and the one constant she's come to expect out of life: you cannot escape what is destined.

Destined is a fresh and heartachingly romantic retelling of the Cupid & Psyche myth from debut novelist, Jessie Harrell.

Available on Amazon

Find Jessie on Twitter and her blog!

Dissecting Tadpoles for Literary Purposes

2011-10-26T05:30:00.004-05:00

First off, thank you all so much for your good wishes on my recent news. I've been overwhelmed by all the woots and squees and other indescribable sounds coming from the comments section of my last post. Big bear hugs to you all!!!

Back to earth now. On to subjects more squeamish than squee. Like tadpoles!

I used to work in a lab in college and the few years after graduation. I did fun things like radioimmunoassays, thin-layer chromatography, slicing bits of paraffin-embedded frog for slides.

I also dissected out hundreds of tadpole gonads.

Ah yes. Those critters never stood a chance. Call me the Jean Claude van Damme of tadpole dissection. I'm fairly sure I could still snip out a tadpole's gonads in three minutes flat.

Why does this matter? It didn't occur to me that my experience there might pop up in my writing later. A lab plays prominently in The Fountain (the lab, mind you, not the tadpoles), and I'm so thankful for that bit of experience I didn't have to research on the fly.

Do you have a life experience that's made its way into your stories? Do tell! And for the non-writers out there, I'd love to hear an unusual life experience that your blog followers don't know about you. :)

****

Also, go check out Deb Salisbury's blog on how kids/pets/plants (or other things cared for) affect her writing. See my previous post, Laura Diamond's, and Sarah Fine's if you missed them!

Over the Moon And Taking You All With Me!

2011-10-24T05:00:00.002-05:00

I dreamed about this moment for years. Despite the incessant feelings of inadequacy and fear that my writing wasn't good enough, I kept trying. There were a lot of rejections. There was the nauseating query roller coaster. A few near misses. Throughout it all, the fear was constant.

Some of those fears went away when Eric became my agent in September, but not all. Having an agent is no guarantee of being published.

So we cleaned up my manuscript, sent it out into the scary world of publishing houses, and waited. I expected months of waiting. Rejections. Revision suggestions, if we were lucky.

When Eric called me about ten days after we went on sub and I saw that 212 area code, I figured he would say something like "Can you stop blogging about stinky things? It's kind of sick."

But no. There was an editor interested in my manuscript, one who really got it. That was when I realized I had a new talent. I could jump up and down, dance in place, bite my knuckles, silently scream, and talk on the phone as if I was perfectly sane.

After a few more calls and and a heckuva lot more knuckle biting, this finally happened about a week after that first phone call:

PUBLISHER'S MARKETPLACE:
Lydia Kang's THE FOUNTAIN, about a 17-year-old who must rescue her kidnapped sister with the help of a band of outcasts with mutated genes, set in 2150 when genetic manipulation has been outlawed, to Kathy Dawson at Dial, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, for publication in 2013, by Eric Myers at The Spieler Agency (World).

(Yes, this is the same Kathy Dawson who was the editor for Chime by Franny Billingsley, a current National Book Award finalist--that Kathy! Excuse me while I get a little dizzy here and accidentally hit a wall. Ow.)

I am over the moon. Okay, more like entered another galaxy! But while I'm flying high right now (and pinching myself enough to turn half-purple), I'm taking a lot of people with me on this celestial celebration.

My hubs and kids, who have been so patient while I tapped away at my laptop every spare moment of my life the past few years.

My family--parents, in-laws, siblings and their hubs, and the rest of my wonderful family that never laughed at my efforts to be an author.

My crit partners--Laura, Julie, Artemis. You guys are goddesses to me! You have been both close friends and teachers. You taught me SO much. Christine Fonseca critted a single chapter of an old novel a few years back, but she opened my eyes to making every sentence count.

My amazing betas--Dushana (cheerleader extraordinaire!), Gale, Becky, and my three awesome teen betas--Jennifer, Claire and Sam.

My good, good friends, both writerly and not--Sarah, Deb, Jane, Grace, Phyllis, and so many others--you know exactly who you are--you cheered me on throughout the whole journey. I always felt like I didn't deserve the premature praise.

My agent, Eric, of course. He saw that maybe, just maybe, I'd written something special that needed to be shared with the world.

The brilliant and insightful docs, poets, and writers of the Seven Doctors Project who nurtured my poetic and writerly beginnings years ago.

The Querytracker forum writers. They critted my first, awful queries. They answered my stupid questions yet never told me I was stupid for asking them. QT is truly one of the most supportive, helpful, kind, online communities ever.

And last but far from least, the tirelessly supportive blogger/writer community. You were always there. ALWAYS. You guys never gave up on me. You listened. I listened back, and learned so very much from your posts--about life, about writing, about surviving the crazy world of a writer.

It's a big party. Thank you all. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I am forever grateful.

Author Spotlight: Melissa Goodwin and Writing in the Dark

2011-10-21T05:30:00.007-05:00

***FYI, for those of your stopping by because of the news (*see my profile! There's something new there!*) I'll be blogging about it Monday. :) ***

Hello all, and welcome to this week's Author Spotlight. I've brought the author, and my loyal blog followers have provided the questions. This week we have Melisssa Ann Goodwin with us. Hi Melissa! Ready, set, go!

The Writing Process: What do you look at when writing - meaning, window, wall, photos, etc.?

I write with my eyes closed. I know that seems a little weird. I think maybe I was supposed to be a filmmaker, because I always “see” the scenes in my stories as though I am watching a movie. So it’s easier for me to see my movie with my eyes closed. I write at the computer, and I can type pretty fast, but I’m not that accurate even with my eyes open. I make lots of mistakes typing with my eyes closed, but usually I can figure out what I wrote because I remember what I was seeing in my imagination when I wrote it.

(Cool. I get my best ideas in the dark, so this is kind of the same thing!)

The Publishing Process: Has an editor annihilated your absolutely favorite line in your book? Did you take it meekly or fight for your words?

It wasn’t so much that the editor annihilated my line, as that she just took all the fun out of it! It was a line in The Christmas Village, when Grandma explains to Jamie what “piece de resistance” means. But she gives him a playful explanation, not a literal one. The editor wanted to have Grandma give a literal translation. To me, what she suggested sounded like Grandma was reading a definition from the dictionary. BORING. I told the editor exactly what I just said a minute ago, “You took all the fun out of it!” My version stayed. Interestingly, the editor also told me, “I just put things out there, but I like it when writers have their own point of view.” Sometimes writers feel too powerless, and I think this shows that perhaps they should be more confident about sticking to their guns when they feel strongly about it.

Writing Miscellany: Do you fear that your ideas would dry up?

I used to be petrified about this. But then I took a Tom Bird workshop, where he had us sit and write on giant pieces of paper and we had to write from left to right and top to bottom and just keep writing and writing without stopping or thinking or thinking or stopping and keep on going without stopping forever and ever amen. I thought this was extremely strange, but it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me as a writer. As the hand moved across the page, somehow stuff moved from the brain through the hand to the paper – stuff that I had no idea was in there, waiting to come out. I’m always a little scared before I sit down to write, but I’ve learned to trust in the idea that “if you write stuff, it will come.”

Random or Weird questions: What is your opinion on Pluto no longer being a planet?

I’m a Scorpio, so this was very hard for me because Pluto was one of my ruling planets, along with Mars. But I’ve gotten over it, because, really, who needs TWO planets bossing you around?

Jamie wished that he could live in his grandma's perfect little Christmas village, and now that wish has magically come true. But is the village really what it seems? What stunning secret does it hold? And how will Jamie ever get back home? The Christmas Village is a holiday adventure the whole family will love, filled with suspense, secrets and surprises to the very last page.

Available on Amazon
and Smashwords!
The Christmas Village Book Blog
Melissa's personal Blog

Guest Post: Angela Felsted

2011-10-19T05:30:00.012-05:00

Hey guys! Today the lovely Angela Felsted is guest posting on a topic near and dear to my heart: how writing poetry affects the writing of fiction.

Angela is an amazing poet/writer whose book of poetry, Cleave, is now available for preorder.

She also has a breathtaking book trailer. Check it out!

Okay, enough gushing. Take it away Angela!

*****

“Excuse me but, your roots are showing.”

For years I labored under the impression that writing poetry would help me with my prose, mostly because there is no better way to practice repetition, rhythm, and symbolism than to write poetry.

Unfortunately, there is also no better way to practice ignoring traditional rules like those of punctuation, capitalization, and basic sentence structure than to write poetry.

Don’t believe me?

Just read a little e. e. cummings.

For the duration of this blog post, I’m going to liken poets to brunettes and writers of prose to blonds. It is hard not to notice, at times, the abundance of blonds who have dark roots.

While poetry and prose can go hand in hand, it’s a true skill to incorporate the two. So I have divided my fellow poet novelists into two camps. (1) Those who use the structure, rhythm, and imagery of poems to tell a story, while leaving out the many layers of meaning inherent to poetry. (2) Those who write straight prose while using their poetic roots to enhance their novels.

In the first camp we have authors who have created and pioneered the verse novel, those like Sonya Sones and Lisa Schroeder, both of whom I admire and respect. And in the second camp we have poets who have turned to straight prose, but cannot hide their poetic roots. I have decided to highlight three of them.

Margaret Atwood

In the “Handmaid’s Tale,” Ms. Atwood continually finds greater meaning in household routine—the taking of a bath, the covering of a canopy bed, even the sparseness of a handmaid’s room. She doesn’t use quotation marks (a sign of poetic license); her protagonist is introspective; and the ending is up for interpretation.

Carrie Jones

Though she writes in straight sentences and uses quotation marks, she isn’t afraid to use alliteration, or to repeat words for emphasis. Take this section from NEED:

“A noise escapes my lips—guttural, panicked, pathetic. I swallow, straighten. That is not how I am going to be. I am not going to die a wimp while waiting for the killer to get me. The snow plasters itself to the spruce trees. It touches my hair, coats my jacket and my pants, presses itself into my sneakers.” (p. 156)

Her use of alliterative words—panicked, pathetic—swallow, straighten—wimp while waiting, mixed with what she chooses to repeat, give her words a punch that other writers would be hard pressed to produce.

Laurie Halse Anderson

Because Ms. Anderson personifies feelings and uses down-to-earth pictures to create emotional context, much of her writing reads like poetry. This is a passage from Wintergirls that is one of my favorites:

“All of the badness boils under my skin, stingy ginger-ale bubbles fighting to breathe. I unbutton my jeans, sliding the zipper open one tooth at a time. I twist to the right and push down the elastic band of my underpants. . .

::Stupid/ugly/stupid/bitch/stupid/fat/
stupid/baby/stupid/loser/stupid/lost::

I inscribe three lines, hush hush hush, into my skin.” (p. 61)

Ironically, many novels which use poetic language are criticized by readers who believe this kind of writing gets in the way of the story. While I see their point, I don’t know that I’d want The Handmaid’s Tale, Need, or Wintergirls written in any other style. Poetic devices slow readers down and makes them think, and isn’t that what good books are meant to make us do?

*****

Thank you Angela! (I think I'm in group 2. Though grouping me with the likes of Anderson, Jones and Atwood make me think there needs to be a group three--for the less goddess-like poet/writers out there!)

Also, go check out Sarah Fine's blog on how kids/pets/plants (or other things cared for) affect her writing. See my previous post and Laura Diamond's if you missed it, and stay tuned for Deb Salisbury's next week!

Medical Mondays: Fish Odor Syndrome

2011-10-17T14:30:00.005-05:00

Hey! Welcome to Medical Mondays and I apologize for getting this post in super late.

So you know, a genetic defect can wreak all sorts of havoc on the human body. Every tiny little mechanism that keeps us functioning properly can be tampered with, so-to-speak, on a DNA level.

This interesting one is called Trimethylaminuria. In this rare disorder, people are unable to break down a certain compound in their diet. As a result, the molecule trimethylamine builds up and is released in the person's sweat, urine, and breath.

And--you guessed it--trimethylamine smells like fish. (I know, I know. My cartoon is inaccurate. Sufferers don't LOOK like fish. Call it artistic license, okay?)

There are treatments. Affected people have to avoid foods that cause buildup of this molecule, such as legumes, fish, and meat. And taking activated charcoal or chlorophyll might work.

Not all people with this disorder necessarily smell like fish. Some just have a strong body odor. But still. Why can't there be a genetic disorder where people smell strongly of, say, hyacinth? Or chocolate? Or, Chanel No. 5?

Well, maybe there are and I need to do more research. In any case, it does make you think about the literary possibilities...

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

Also, don't forget to stop by Laura Diamond's Mental Health Mondays and Sarah Fine's The Strangest Situation for great psychiatric and psychological viewpoints on all things literary. :)

Pay It Forward Blogfest AND Author Spotlight with Ciara Knight!

2011-10-14T05:30:00.012-05:00

Click for bloghop list

Two great tastes that taste great together. Yep, I'm smashing two posts into one. I couldn't pass up the Pay It Forward Blogfest because it's 99.9% pure extract of righteousness.

I'm always plugging my buddies Laura, Deb, Sarah, and more recently, Julie. But I would love it if you could get to know these other gals a little better. You won't be sorry!

Krispy/Alz at a Nudge in the Right Direction. Kooky stick drawings? No-holds barred book reviews that will make you spew soda out of your nose? Little bits of culture/food/whatever that are always entertaining? They've got it all. I love them. Cyber hugs to my girls.

Olga at Artful Nuance. I am NEVER disappointed when I visit Olga's blog. She is an artist, and her photography always takes my breath away. Can red be made to look any redder in a picture? I don't know how, but Olga always does it. She's thoughtful, introspective, and a wonderful person.

Rachna Chabria at Rachna's Scriptorium. Rachna has the kind of blog about writing where you want to pull up a chair, grab a steaming mug of chai, hang out and talk with her forever. She tackles all things writing-related with depth, gentleness, and yet a keenly sharp eye. She always gets me thinking.

There you go. Meet this ladies. You won't regret it! Thanks Alex and Matthew for hosting the blogfest!

Okay, now on to our Author Spotlight. Please welcome the lovely Ciara Knight!

How do you plot, if you’re a plotter, and how do you revise?

I have a strange writing process but it’s what works for me. I will brainstorm while driving or hiking because I can’t stand looking at a blank page without a story. It’s too intimidating. After I have the entire plot worked out in my head, I’ll write an outline. This will include setting, who’s POV (If writing multiple), goal, conflict, motivation, and disaster. Then I’ll open up a word document, close my eyes, and type like a crazy person. This is my rough draft that no one should ever see. After that, I’ll go through and just clean it up. At this point it is more of an extended plotline with dialogue. The third pass I’ll start layering more emotion, internal thought, ect…. I’ll usually send this version to critique partners. Once it is back in my hands, I’ll incorporate their changes and clean up sentence structure, repetitive words, etc…. Then it is ready to see the light of day.

How do you manage to do so much in 24 hours?

Caffeine. Seriously, I’ve always been a workaholic. In college I worked full time, went to school full time, and worked on a scholarship project. I’d work all week from 5:00AM – 11:00PM then sleep all weekend. I still do this. Caffeine up all week then crash and sleep in on Saturday morning. With three boys in the house, I know there won’t be any writing that day.

(OMG, this has become my new schedule too! Saturday morning sleep-ins are kind of sacred at my house now. :) )

Is there a different genre you might like to try and write someday?

I’d love to write sci-fi but I’m way too intimidated. I’ve always been in love with all things not of this world. Maybe one day I’ll give it a shot, but right now, I think I should keep my feet firmly grounded.

Favorite season of the year?

Fall! I’m a diehard hiker and there is no better time to hike in the southeast then in the fall. The sound of leaves crunching under foot, brisk air carrying the sounds of birds flying south for the winter, and the fact people aren’t so cranky now that the heat wave has ended, makes fall a fantastic time of year.

Sammy Lorre was cast from Heaven for conduct unbecoming an angel. Living in a demon-infested small town with no memory of her previous life, she faces never-ending purgatory until Boon saunters into her life with a promise of angelic love. But is he an angel from Heaven or a minion from the underworld preying on her human emotions? To discover his true identity, she must risk eternal damnation and her heart.

Love’s Long Shadow is Available at: Turquoise Morning Press | Amazon Kindle | Smashwords | Bookstrand | All Romance Ebooks/OmniLit

You can find Ciara on Twitter and at her Blog!

It-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named

2011-10-12T05:30:00.005-05:00

It-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named

This month's Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog question comes from Deb Salisbury, who asks:

"How do your pets/kids/plants (something you take care of) influence your writing? Do they help you, or distract you? Do you include them in your stories?"

I already blogged about my new writing buddy, Finney, who's currently more concerned about begging for food than helping me write. Now I know why the word "fish" is in selfish.
(Just kidding, Finney. Big slimy hugs.)

There's no question that my family influences my writing. Along with work, they're the reason why I don't write every moment of the day. "Life Balance" has become synonymous with "Hamster Wheel" in my world. The balance is all wonky and I'm always falling off the damn wheel. And yes, I am the hamster. (Don't you dare quote me on that.)

So let's get to the meat of the question. Or the seitan, for the veggie crowd.

Do my family or friends show up in my writing?
No. Not even thinly disguised. It is what it is, folks.

What about the pets, like the fish, the stick insects, and the It-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named (the giant turd-like bug chrysalis my babysitter found in her yard and thoughtfully brought to my nature-loving kids. The first time I saw it, the turd twitched at me and I made myself deaf from screaming so freaking loud.)
No. But IWSNBN haunts my dreams every night.

What about plants?
I have thought about my pretty sago palm, which is highly poisonous and would make a great Medical Mondays post, but no.

Bottom line? I am a hamster with a mysterious, frightening turd living in my house. Oh, and all my literary imaginings come from one place--my noggin.

I'll leave you with a choice quote from Virginia Woolf:

"Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt, that you can set up on the freedom of my mind."

If you missed it, check out Laura's post from last week, and keep an eye out for Sarah and Deb's post coming soon!

Medical Mondays: Gabbing about GABA and GHB

2011-10-10T05:30:00.005-05:00

Today we have some interesting questions from Lorelei Bell. One of the questions she asked was:
I know that gamma-amino butyric acid is a depressant of the central nervous system, and is used primarily to stimulate the release of growth hormone for increased muscle mass, but is it also called GHB? Also, what form would it come in? Bottle? Packets?

(FYI, this question is regarding non-prescription use, bought off the street for nefarious purposes. Lorelei, your poor characters! Aren't we writers so mean?)

Gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) is a neurotransmitter in the brain. It's job is to temper the excitability of neurons. (Kind of a like a mom who tells her sugar-hopped kids to keep their grabby hands to themselves and to please, for the fifth time, settle down!) GABA also regulates muscle tone (without it, muscles become spastic).

GABA that is ingested can't actually get into the brain, so it can't be used as a medicine. Instead, there are meds that mimic GABA and have calming, anti-anxiety, and anti-seizure effects.

Examples: muscle relaxants (Baclofen), benzodiazepines (Valium), and anti-seizure meds (phenobarbital) and other substances (alcohol, kava, lemon balm, valerian).

But what is GHB?

GHB is Gamma hydroxybutyrate. It was initially created in France to mimic GABA, but had too many side effects to be approved for US usage at first. Soon after, it was sold in health food stores as a supplement for bodybuilding and weight loss. Before long, it became abused because of its euphoric, stimulant, relaxation effects and usage as a date-rape drug.

Two industrial solvents also began being abused (gamma butyrolactone and 1,4 butanediol) because they are chemically converted into GHB after ingestion.

GHB is used in the medical community, marketed as Xyrem, to treat narcolepsy. It comes in a brown bottle and is given as a liquid form, by dropper.

GHB on the street is sold as a clear, odorless liquid with a salty or soapy taste. It can also be sold as a white powder. The two solvents are liquids with chemical taste to them so they are often masked with flavorings or colors, but they too have shown up on the black market in capsule form.

GHB is extremely dangerous. It can cause:

death, almost always because the user stops breathing
coma
agitation, violent behavior, tics, and delerium
fatal heart rhythms
amnesia
seizures
muscle destruction that can then cause kidney failure
trauma from intoxication (including broken bones, head trauma, and motor vehicle accidents)

Scary stuff, that GHB. Funny how the quest for a new medication can produce a kind of chemical Frankenstein, instead.

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

Also, don't forget to stop by Laura Diamond's Mental Health Mondays and Sarah Fine's The Strangest Situation for great psychiatric and psychological viewpoints on all things literary. :)

Author Spotlight: Artemis Hunt and Her Hot Alien

2011-10-07T05:30:00.001-05:00

Hello all! I'm so happy to say I have one of my crit partners here for the Author Spotlight. Artemis Hunt (her pen name) has several books out right now. But first, the all important interview questions!

The Writing Process: How do you plot, if you’re a plotter, and how do you revise?

I'm an obsessive outliner. I outline everything, and then I show my beta. She tears through it :) (*That's me, yep, the Tear-orizer*) Then I repair what she doesn't like.

I begin to write chapter by chapter based on the outline. I get new ideas, and then the outline changes slightly, but not for the major plot points. I show chapter by chapter to my beta. She tears through them. I pick up the broken pieces.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

The Publishing Process: If you decided to self-publish, what was the final push that allowed that decision?

I really, really wanted to try it. I was reading about how many copies indie publishers sold vs when they were traditionally published, and I wanted to at least try one book while querying other books. I was a traditionally published short story collection author before this, and I had great success in the traditional publishing field. My short story collection shot up to No. 2 in the bestselling lists. I had great traction. One of my stories was serialized in a newspaper.

So I believe in the traditional publishing concept. But I also recognize the world is changing and I want to give indie e-publishing a try.

I still have agent requests on this book out there that I haven't sent. (They get so many I'm sure they won't remember whether I sent it in or not, haha!) I don't regret it so far. In my first 9 days, I sold 17 copies.

Writing Miscellany: Is there a different genre you might like to try and write someday?

I actually do write in different genres. SNOW WHITE is a fantasy/sci-fi/romance (YA). My short stories, soon to be re-released in the Kindle e-book form, are thriller/horror. Another of my finished manuscripts is a paranormal chick lit.

Random or Weird question: Do you believe in aliens?

Since I totally wrote about a drop-dead handsome one who visits Earth in order to colonize it, and ends up falling in love with Snow White, even if he thinks she's downright ugly (!), I think I do believe in them!

Rude. Opinionated. Dirty. Bug crazy.

That's how folks describe 16-year-old Snow White, who is more interested in studying insects than her own beautiful, anemic face. When her bipolar stepmother sets a price on her heart, which she'd like served with baby potatoes and Chianti, Snow White has no choice. She must outwit every studly huntsman, assassin, city guard and robber baron sent to bring her back, preferably dead, before she reaches Lapland.

20-year-old Aein is a one-winged cripple from another planet. Passionate, ridiculed, headstrong, and considered hideous in his gossamer, aerial world, he desires nothing more than to prove to his royal family that flight and beauty are overrated. He gets his one chance when he is selected to go to Earth, disguised as a 'Crawler' - who appears to us as a phenomenally handsome human youth. His mission: to pave our world for colonization and, later . . . annihilation.

The first native he stumbles upon is the fugitive Snow White.

Snow White and Aein must choose their allegiances, and fight a forbidden, growing love for each other before their worlds explosively collide.

Available on Amazon!

Connect with Artemis on Twitter and her blog!

Mind-Booty Connection

2011-10-05T06:30:00.000-05:00

Oops, I meant the Mind-Body connection.

Please stop by Sarah's blog where I'm guest posting on the Mind-Body Connection!

(Okay, I admit, the booty does make a brief appearance.)

Also, be sure to check out Laura's blog where she's posting for this month's Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog question: How do your pets/kids/plants influence your writing? Do they help you, or distract you? Do you include them in your stories?

Medical Mondays: The Ups and Downs of Prescription Drug Abuse

2011-10-03T05:30:00.001-05:00

Welcome back to Medical Mondays! Melissa Sarno had some great questions about her current WIP and I thought I'd tackle a few specific questions she had.

"What kinds of effects can prescription drugs of abuse can a person have, and what are the withdrawal symptoms if they go off the drugs?"

The prescription drugs that are commonly abused usually run in three classes.

Pain medications (opioids, like morphine, Vicodin, Dilaudid, methadone, etc.)
Sedatives, including sleeping medicines and anxiolytics ("anxiety destroyers") also known as benzodiazepines, such as Valium, Ativan, and Xanax
Stimulants (amphetamines, such as Ritalin)

Here are some scary factoids (courtesy of the International Narcotics Control Board):

In the US, prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing drug problem (16 million people in the US as of 2009)
Except for marijuana usage, more people in the US abuse prescription drugs than heroin, inhalants, cocaine, hallucinogens, crystal meth, and ecstasy combined.

Why are some drugs abused more than others?

Rapid onset (quicker high)
Route (to get the best high), so a drug that can be given or changed to intravenous is preferred over inhaled > immediate release > slow release formulas
Purity (trade names have more street value than generic)

What are the symptoms of being intoxicated on these medications?

Pain medications: The mental states can range from euphoria to sleepiness and even coma. Physically, abuser might have a lower breathing rate with shallow breathing, tiny pupils, and a slowed GI rate (constipation and quiet belly sounds)
Sedatives (benzos and barbiturates): Slurred speech, incoordination, wobbly gait, stupor and coma. Their mood may be all over the place and they might be socially inappropriate. Physically, their irises might be twitchy.
Stimulants: Euphoria, increased energy and exuberant mood, decreased appetite, and sometimes hallucinations. Severe intoxication can cause agitation, violent behavior, elevated heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rates, elevated body temperature, and sometimes heart attack and cardiovascular collapse.

What are the symptoms of withdrawal of these medications?

Pain medications: Classic opioid withdrawal includes terrible, downed mood, restlessness, runny nose and tearing, body pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. What fun, right?
Sedatives: tremors, anxiety, hallucinations, psychosis and seizures.
Stimulants: fatigue, depression, inability to find joy in anything, increased sleep or insomnia, vivid dreams, drug cravings, and increased appetite.

There you go. Keep in mind this is a very brief overview of quite an extensive subject matter. Hope this helps, Melissa!

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

Also, don't forget to stop by Laura Diamond's Mental Health Mondays and Sarah Fine's The Strangest Situation for great psychiatric and psychological viewpoints on all things literary. :)

Author Spotlight: Jennifer Shirk Dreams of a Big, Purple Hat

2011-09-30T05:30:00.003-05:00

Happy Friday and please welcome Jennifer Shirk to our Author Spotlight! Okay, it's Q & A time. Off we go!

How do you develop a mental picture of your characters?
Sometimes I have an image already in my mind then I look for a name that fits that description. I recently started to look for pictures on the Internet so I can refer back to it when I’m writing about that character. It’s funny but for GEORGIE ON HIS MIND I had a clear image of Georgie with long ringlets of strawberry blonde hair like Nicole Kidman used to have in that movie Malice and that stuck.

Has an editor annihilated your absolutely favorite line in your book? Did you take it meekly or fight for your words?
My editor at Avalon didn’t want to annihilate a line but a whole scene! She went on to say how funny it was but the way it was written just didn’t fit the “family friendly” standards of Avalon. It was a scene where the heroine mistakes the hero as a condom thief. I was going to completely change it to hemorrhoid cream and really dreaded making the changes. But then my husband looked at me and said, “If you were a real writer, you would be able to make it work as is.” WHAT?! Those were fighting words so I did manage to keep it to condoms, made some really small changes, and both me and my editor were very happy in the end. So I did stick to my guns then.

Do you have a favorite social network?
My favorite social network changes with my mood—and my time. When I joined Facebook, I couldn’t get enough. Then a few months later, Twitter was becoming more and more fun to me. Now I’ve kind of gotten a renewed love of blogging again.

What's on your bucket list?
Going to the Kentucky Derby is on my bucket list! I don’t know why, but that is just something I’m dying to experience. I want to drink a mint julep and wear a one of those huge fancy hats. Last time I was in NYC I saw a beautiful purple hat for $425 that would be perfect! (I didn’t buy the hat, but hopefully someday…)

Georgie Mayer has no boyfriend and rarely goes out. In short, she needs a life. Since she's graduated college and returned back home, her brother's protectiveness has been in overdrive, and she hasn't been able to have any fun, never mind get a date.

So what's a poor particularly attractive girl to do in a situation like this? The only thing she can do: find him a woman!

He'll thank her for it in the end. That is, if his best friend Walt Somers would stop interfering with her plans. The handsome pharmacist has made no secret that he doesn't approve of what she's up to. Unfortunately, having Walt hanging around does strange things to her mind, and suddenly she can't help but take a healthy interest in him. But how can Georgie entertain thoughts of the two of them together when Walt still treats her like his best friend's little sister?

Available on Amazon!

Find Jennifer on Twitter and Facebook!

My New Writing Buddy

2011-09-28T05:30:00.005-05:00

One of our pet fish died last week. She was a convict cichlid (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus), named Convict (lame, I know), about 6 years old and smart as any fish could be. She was the Queen of the tank.

My kids were so sad when she died. We buried her under the ginkgo tree in our front yard. I tried to ease the pain by telling them she'll compost away and show up in the ginkgo's new, spring leaves. It helped a little.

Circle of life, dudes.

During our fish-mourning, my hubby bought me a half-moon betta. He looks like a blue peony in fish form. All fins and glamour! We named him Finnegan. Finney for short. Finney has his own crib so he won't attack every other fish in the tank. He's beautiful but not vain. In fact, he loathes my iPhone camera. He swims away whenever he sees it. It took, like, 50 tries to get this portrait.

Finney is my new writing buddy. He gets me through the tough times now.

Me: "I can't figure out how to fix this plot problem!"
Finney:
Me: "I need a writing break. Do you need a break?"
Finney:
Me: "Does my butt look too big? Too small? Misshapen?"
Finney:

As you can see, he's awesome. He a speck of fishy companionship in this lonely writing business.

*RIP, Convict*

How about you? Do you have something (non-food related) that keeps you company when you write?

******

Also, if you have a moment, please stop by Deb Salisbury's blog and Sarah Fine's post to see how she creates her characters! If you missed it, check out Laura's post and mine.

Medical Mondays: Teratomas and Spanikopita

2011-09-26T05:30:00.002-05:00

I have no idea why I chose this topic. I think I literally woke up yesterday and thought, "Why yes. I'm going to make some tea. Then I'm going to do a post on teratomas."

First, a cinematic intro courtesy of My Big Fat Greek Wedding:

I love this movie!

Anyway, so what's a teratoma (Greek for "monstrous tumor"), and how on earth might it be used as literary inspiration?

Teratomas are masses, usually benign, that contain elements that can be found in any part of the body. Thus, they can contain:

hair
teeth
bone
neural tissue and brain
highly developed body parts, such as eyes, fingers, or internal organ tissues (liver, kidney)

However, they often contain more early developmental tissues that aren't as dramatic as those listed above. A small percentage of these tumors can become malignant.

They generally arise from the germ cells of men and women, so they'll manifest as ovarian cysts or tumors, or testicular masses. They can also arise from embryonic cells and show up in the neck, chest, skull, and even the coccyx (tail bone).

Rarely, the mass can be so well advanced in its development that it can appear to have almost fetus-like definition. This is called fetus in fetu. Some have theorized that it represents a twin that was enveloped by the person in utero, or simply a very developed teratoma.

The fetus in fetu syndrome has shown up in books, such as...

Stephen King's The Dark Half
Billie Cowie's Passenger
Phillip K. Dick's Dr. Bloodmoney

Okay. Now. Spanikopita, anyone????

If you've got a fictional medical question, let me know! Post below or email me at

Also, don't forget to stop by Laura Diamond's Mental Health Mondays and Sarah Fine's The Strangest Situation for great psychiatric and psychological viewpoints on all things literary. :)

Author Spotlight: JL Campbell and her Jurassic-ness

2011-09-23T06:30:00.005-05:00

Welcome Joy to this week's Author Spotlight! And away we go...

The Publishing Process: If you decided to self-publish, what was the final push that allowed that decision?
I have two books that are published traditionally and one scheduled to be released with another publisher later this year. My experience of having to show up everyday for the new job of plying my wares in a cycle of market-promote-market, and my willingness to try methods a publisher can’t or won’t because of financial considerations made the decision for me.

Life and Writing: How does your significant other or family feel about your writing? My husband is supportive. He’s gotten used to seeing me hunched over the keyboard at all hours of the day and night. My son has learned to be cunning. When things get out of hand, he asks ‘So, is writing and editing more important than spending time with your only child?’

Writing Miscellany: Do you fear that your ideas would dry up? I look at published writers who have 90 books and wonder how they avoid writing the same characters and stories over and over. Still, I don’t fear that my ideas will run dry because I get way too many characters who come calling. To keep up with them, what I’ve started to do is put down their story lines in a private blog. When I’m finished with the lot on my hard drive, it will be time to explore those stories. Meantime, I keep adding to that hidden blog.

(Hope they don't bust out in the middle of the night and give you insomnia. Mine are sneaky like that.)

Random or Weird question: What is your opinion on Pluto no longer being a planet? Wait! What? Pluto is no longer a planet? Now see, this is how I know I’m a dinosaur. Add my husband to the dinosaur league too. My son says ‘Well, you know, Pluto was such a small planet.” He won’t admit for a minute that he didn’t know, but then he’s only ten. Google tells me this decision was made in 2006. I think there’s some merit in these remarks my child keeps making about me living in fossil days.

(I hear you. Sometimes it's good to just own up to your inner Jurassic-ness, like I do.)

Lydia, thanks so much for hosting me on your blog.

JL, you're very welcome!

Sherryn Albright has all the trappings of success, until a secret explodes on her doorstep. Her devoted husband has fathered a child outside of their marriage. When Reece is implicated in a murder case, it is clear that he has not escaped unscathed from the mean streets of Kingston, Sherryn battles her conscience and public opinion to save her family and herself from destruction.
Available on Amazon
Come visit Joy on her blog and on Twitter!

Psst. I have some news.

2011-09-21T05:30:00.005-05:00

Look, over there. My bio, on the right. See something new?

I have an agent!

I've been writing fiction for two years and three months. I've written three young adult novels and I'm currently writing my first middle grade novel.

I've had sleepless nights when my characters wouldn't leave me alone.

I've had days when I've wondered if I was delusional for becoming a writer.

I've had moments when I've been so excited over a plot line I've squealed out loud.

I've studied the art of how to write the perfect query letter until my eyeballs felt numb.

I've gotten rejections. Oh, yes. I can say I have something in common with most New York Times bestselling authors—the rejections!

But one thing I've never done is give up.

I've dreamed about writing this post since I started blogging, wondering if I'd ever write it. I know that that every bad day and every good day has been shared with so many people who've been supportive of me on this journey. And that includes all of you guys too.

So I thank you. Thank you for holding that ladder while I reached for the sky. Don't know if I'll catch me a star, but I won't stop trying.

(And I won't stop holding the ladder for my bloggy friends too.)

Worst Movie Ever Blogfest

2011-09-19T05:30:00.000-05:00

I promise that Medical Mondays will be back on its feet next Monday. When Alex posted about this blogfest, I was assailed by memories so wretched I couldn't resist.

Here is it:

Yahoo Serious. Seriously?

It was bloody awful. I went to see it the summer before college and I almost walked out. Almost. I didn't because I went with a friend who thought it was hilarious.

(We aren't friends anymore.)

Any of you who know me a bit know that I like a little bit of, shall we say, logic within the imaginary worlds I'm entering.

Splitting beer atoms? Einstein creating rock n' roll? It's like they took one drunken, random idea and stretched it into 90 minutes of sheer, unfunny idiocy.

Rotten Tomatoes beat me to pummeling this one into the ground.

(I apologize to any Aussies out there--I hear it was a hit there, but I can comfortably say that I love all things Aussie except this movie).

Please stop by the other bloggers on this fun Blogfest!

Revel in the Bad Movie.
Love it.
Live it.
Hurl it.

Author Spotlight: Marva Dasef Fights the Law

2011-09-16T05:30:00.000-05:00

Please welcome Marva Dasef to our Author Spotlight! Okay, I'm ready to find out who won, you or the law...

The Publishing Process: Has an editor annihilated your absolutely favorite line in your book? Did you take it meekly or fight for your words?

I fought the law, but the law won. In a fantasy book (coming up in October from MuseItUp), my husband had come up with the brand of a snowmobile, the Snowshoe 3000 Turbo, but the editor thought it sounded too much like Harry Potter’s broom’s brand. Thing is, it wasn’t anywhere near (Nimbus 2000 and Firebolt), so I argued I could use it as is. Still, she worried over even a whiff of infringement. Knowing how important it is, I did give in. I ended up leaving out the word Turbo. I’ve also had ‛discussions’ when using real brand names. If pejorative, the editor decided it better to use something more generic. For me, using brand names gives more texture to the book. Is it better to say, “She bought a bottle of Tylenol.” or “She bought a bottle of pain killers.” To me, ‛pain killers’ is flat and uninteresting, but ‛Tylenol’ gives a context that makes the story richer. Readers know what a Tylenol bottle looks like. I felt like I had to answer this one since it was my idea on your website. Sneaky!

(I guess I can't use my kids' invention either, the Bug-Catcher 2000 Solar XL D589. Darn.)

Life and Writing: How did you decide to get into writing?

If I define ‛writing’ as the process of developing and capturing a coherent string of words that express an idea or physical operation, then I had no choice. I decided to write fiction after spending thirty-five years writing technical documentation. So I learned how to write from my career, and decided I should continue to play to my strengths. It was a little late to join the Olympics Women’s Soccer Team.

Writing Miscellany: How many unfinished novels do you have?

One. I have ideas and thoughts for others, but I pretty much stick to writing one novel at a time. I don’t know how other writers manage to scatter their attention across multiple open manuscripts. In most things, I’m a parallel processor, doing several things simultaneously. With writing, I’m just a one-book gal.

Writing and Food: Do you snack when you write? And what is that snack?

At around three pm, I have five low-fat Ritz crackers with non-fat cream cheese. Yeah, I just go crazy.

When Kameron McBride receives notice she’s the only living relative of a missing man she’s never even heard of, the last thing she wants to do is head to some half-baked Oregon town to settle his affairs. Her suspicions rise when the probate Judge isn't really a judge and tries too hard to buy the dead man’s worthless property. Kam probes deeper into the town’s secrets and finds almost no one she can trust. Kam must find out what really happened to her dead relative before someone in this backward little town sends her to join him.

And she thought Oregon was going to be boring.

Available on Amazon

Connect with Marva on her blog and Twitter!

Characters 101

2011-09-14T05:30:00.001-05:00

First off, I want to thank you all for sharing your stories and being so supportive of my September 11th experience. I almost didn't post it, but many bloggers encouraged me to tell my story. So, thank you all, so very much.

Second, I've got the grippe. Or whatever. I'm phlegmy and headachey and I feel like someone put my sinuses into a can of leftover Fresca and smashed it to smithereens, then force-fed me sandpaper. Yes, that's me.

So if I'm horrible about visiting your blogs, please forgive me. My Nyquil-infused body thanks you.

This month's Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog question comes from Sarah Fine. She asks,

"How do you develop your characters? Do you flesh out the details before (like writing as that character, writing backstory, or filling out a questionnaire about their preferences and history) or invent as you go?"

I have previously blogged about using character sheets, which I find pretty helpful. I like the idea of getting to know my characters before I write. What does they like to wear? What are their quirks? Strengths and weaknesses?

But lately, I've noticed that even if I fill out a sheet and *think* I know her well, I usually have to go back and do some major character refurbishing anyway.

The truth is, no matter how detailed an outline I have, scenes and plotlines often must be deconstructed and reconstructed, and the characters aren't immune to change either.

So the answer to Sarah's question? I do both.

Also, for the minor characters, I usually invent their characteristics as I write. :) Because I'm a little bit outliner, a little bit "pants-and-roll."

Last week, Laura answered the question and next week, we get to hear Sarah tackle it, then Deb.

How about you? How to you create your characters?

*achoo!* Ah, gross. Didn't grab that tissue in time. Sorry guys.

My September 11th

2011-09-12T05:30:00.002-05:00

9/11 Memorial
Omaha, Nebraska
photo credit: Stephenwigg

I can't believe it's been 10 years since September 11th, 2001. I've told this story in bits and pieces to my friends, but I've never written it down. I think I'm finally ready to talk about it. It's long, so bear with me. It may be hard to read. It's certainly hard for me to write.

Ten years ago, I lived in Manhattan on the Upper East Side. I was a Chief Resident at NYU/Bellevue Hospital after finishing 3 years of residency in primary care internal medicine.

I was also married and almost 8 months pregnant with my first child. As my bus lumbered down Second Avenue on the way to work, I remember what a beautiful, clear morning it was. I was thankful summer was over. Pregnancy and humid weather had been a hard combination for me.

The first strange thing that happened was that the bus driver started talking to us over the speaker.

NYC bus drivers never talk to the passengers, except to say what stop was coming up or yell at us to make room for more people.

"I've been told one of the twin towers was hit by an airplane," she said, and we all looked out the front window of the bus to see a thick cord of smoke floating eastward across the sky--a blemish in the blue.

I heard the passengers murmuring to each other. One person said it was actually two planes, but another assured us it was just one.

One plane could be an accident. But two? I couldn't quite fathom what that might mean.

So at first, I didn't get too excited. I'd worked in the architecture department archives as an undergrad and had seen photos of a small plane hitting the Empire State building by accident. I tried to convince myself that it was just a random event.

I got off the bus and waddled past Second Avenue to get to Bellevue Hospital, on 27th Street and First Avenue. My husband and I shared one cell phone. It was quite the luxury then. I called him where he was at work as a Chief Resident at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital. All I got was busy signal.

That was when I started to worry. I dialed my sister, who lived less than ten blocks from the Twin Towers. Another busy signal. I waddled faster, my worry turning into panic.

In our offices, I found the other chief resident staring out the window. Now, there were two plumes of smoke, one coming from each building. Several attendings and residents had heard the news. One of the residents had a husband who worked in the towers. She couldn't get in touch with him and was freaking out.

We tried to get in contact with each resident. Nearly every phone call we made ended in a busy signal. We had a TV in the office we only used for playing educational tapes, and it had horrible reception. All we could do was listen to the local news, since the images were so grainy. No one wanted me to do much because I was so pregnant, so I manned the phones, telling the few people who got through to get to Bellevue ASAP, if they could. The rest of the time, I stared out the window.

The smoke changed from cords of grey to large clouds, depending on the winds. Sometimes, I saw orange flames emerging out of the smoke. Once, when the smoke got so voluminous, I told the other chief that there were patches of blue sky within the blackish clouds.

"Look," I said, grabbing her sleeve. "It's almost like you can see through the smoke. I think one of the towers is missing."

"No," she responded. "It's still there. See?" But when she stepped away from the window, the wind changed directions again and I covered my mouth. There was only one building standing.

"Oh my God!" I shrieked. People ran to the window to see what I'd seen. As we stared and stared at the impossible--that one of the towers was down, another impossibility began to happen. The second one crumpled, slowly, then faster, right before our eyes.

I don't remember what I said. I do remember what I felt. Like there were a thousand people screaming in my ears and there was nothing I could do about it.

One final corner of the remaining tower still stood--a tall, jagged shard. Then it too, dissolved in a puff of dust.

Attendings and residents came in and out of the office, all wearing stethoscopes and making plans to clear out the inpatient wards for the coming wounded. People ran to the ER bay to stand by the doors, waiting.

They kept waiting. And no one came.

Some doctors and nurses decided waiting wasn't good enough, and went in teams to Ground Zero to help. One of them, a colleague, was so haunted by what he'd experienced that he could barely speak of what happened. He mentioned seeing...oh God. I can't even write it down.

Finally, someone told me to go home. They didn't want me working, and the phone lines were practically dead. The one resident whose husband worked in the towers finally got in touch with him. When the first plane hit, he took to the stairwells, got to the street, and kept running till he reached his apartment. He couldn't call her because the payphones had lines of people trying to use them since no cellphones were working.

The buses and subways weren't running. I numbly walked the fifty blocks to get to my husband's office, taking frequent stops to rest on benches. I could only go a couple of blocks before I'd get contractions from the exercise. Shopkeepers had their doors open, setting up free snacks and drinks to the people walking in droves down the avenues. The sense of community and desperate need to help others was palpable. I remember thinking, "This is the New York that so many people don't know."

I eventually found my husband and huddled in his office while he and other coworkers also mobilized for wounded and dying that never came to their hospital either.

I finally got in touch with my sister, who'd taken her own child and went immediately to a friend's apartment further north for safety. I remember crying a lot the next day. I can't even remember if I went to work or not. I think I stayed home and watched too many horrible images on television.

For weeks and month afterwards, the entrance to Bellevue was plastered with photocopied images of the missing. At first, people stood around the entrance, handing out flyers and asking us if we'd seen any of their family members in the hospital. The pictures were haunting images of healthy men and women, smiling in a frozen moment of time. As each day passed, reality told us that nearly all would never be seen alive again. Soon, piles of flowers and candles began to appear under the pictures of the lost. The photos went from being cries for help to memorials.

Early in the morning on September 13th, I awoke in the darkness with excruciating abdominal pain. My belly was misshapen out of its usual 8 months' roundness. We grabbed a cab to NYU's Tisch Hospital, which was connected with the Coroner's offices, only two blocks from Bellevue. The smell of burnt things still permeated the air. A police officer barred our way; when my husband pointed to my belly, we were let through to the ER.

My baby, which was breech, had turned around in the middle of the night. The doctor said all the walking from the day before might have triggered it. My husband and I smiled weakly. It was hard to believe anything positive could possibly come out of that day of tragedy.

Six weeks later, our son was born after seventeen grueling hours of labor. He was seriously and unexpectedly ill. To put it simply, he was born with a broken heart. Suddenly, the grief of an unspeakable tragedy was eclipsed by the fear of losing our first child.

***

Even now, I think of September 11th and it brings me to tears. I think of those family members, those friends, the brave souls who tried to save them and lost their lives. Those terrible losses will never be returned.

Even now, I remember the scent of burning things, the look of bewilderment on the faces of my colleagues that got ready to heal and had no one to save.

Even now, I sometimes wonder what I have done, bringing children into a world so filled with hate that such a thing could happen.

And yet, even now, as I look on the face of a beautiful, healthy, brilliant son who's about to turn ten years old, do I realize that there are far bigger things in the world worth holding on to.

Community.

Hope.

And above all else, love.