They say the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. Perhaps in spite of my better judgment, I am eagerly preparing for my second foray into self publishing! I learned SO much the first time around. I learned about buying cover art, and how to set up my title on KDP. I learned about keywords and categories and SEO. I learned how to codeanebook, for crying out loud! I learned how to find book bloggers who might (if I’m very lucky) be interested in reading and reviewing my book.
So yeah, I’m in a (slightly) better place this time around, and I’m feeling the excitement. And also the nerves. Because despite all the knowledge I gained last time, in some ways this is starting fresh. My first book, Even Heroes, was a full-length YA action/adventure novel that had never before seen the light of day. This one is a totally different genre: paranormal romance. It’s a short piece (considered either a novelette or a novella, depending on your definition), and it has been published before, in an anthology called Transformed.
I’m choosing to self pub this one for several reasons:
I love the story and the characters, and I want to share them with a (hopefully) wider audience.
Eventually, I want all of my work (past, present, and future) to be available in one place.
I have two more stories planned for these characters, so this will, in time, be a series. 🙂
The original anthology where the piece appeared seems to be out of print, so right now nobody’s getting to read one of the best stories I’ve ever written – that definitely needs to change!
In the coming week, I’ll be sharing more details, including the cover art reveal (oooh!) and a brilliant early review I’ve already gotten from an ARC reader. In the meantime, if you like angsty romance, nice guy heroes, and female werewolves who change into raging, homicidal beasts on the full moon, I’ll be offering advance review copies to interested readers via my newsletter, so be sure to sign up. 🙂
For all those who have self published a novel or are considering doing so, there’s one very important thing you should know: your book has a superpower. Sounds awesome, right? Until you realize what that superpower actually is: invisibility.
That’s right. Your book is invisible. No one can see it except you. So…not as awesome as what you were imagining (admit it – you thought your book could fly or shoot lasers from its title page). And let’s face it – invisibility is definitely not what any author wants for their precious newborn novel.
But that’s not the end of the story: YOU, the author, have a special power too. You are the only one on earth who can make your book visible to others. And that is an amazing power, if you can just figure out how to use it.
Below is a chronicle of my efforts thus far to make my debut novel appear in the eyes of the world.
After some initial sales to kindhearted friends and family members – and three wonderfully detailed reviews from book bloggers – my YA novel quickly returned to its original state of invisibility, where I sadly left it for several months. I didn’t really know what to do or how to move forward, so I just let it stagnate.
Eventually, I pulled myself together and made some kind of effort by enrolling the book in Kindle Select (This is what it’s called on the author side of things. On the reader side, it’s known as Kindle Unlimited.)
Enrollment has several perks. Readers with a KU subscription can read the book for free, and authors are paid a certain amount per page read (typically about half a cent). The program also allows authors to give their ebooks away for a certain number of days per enrollment period, or reduce the price for special, short-term sales called Kindle Countdown Deals.
The one main downside is that you can’t have your ebook available anywhere else – it must be an Amazon exclusive (not a dealbreaker for me, since my ebook wasn’t published elsewhere).
With much excitement, I arranged my first giveaway. I posted on this blog that my book would be free, and promoted it on Twitter (is anyone actually calling it X?) as well. All told, eight people downloaded the book during its free days. In my mind, that was pretty good – eight more people had discovered my book and might actually read it.
A few months later I tried another giveaway, this time promoting only on Twitter. Zero people downloaded the book. It was a definite low moment for me. Apparently, I couldn’t even give my book away. Then there was the fact that my one and only KU reader made it through 158 pages, then abandoned the book, never to pick it up again, and I would never know why.
After these glaring failures, I slumped into despair for a while, and my book sales were at zero for a good 5-6 months. Eventually, I picked myself up, dusted the self-pity particles off the butt of my jeans, and got back to work fighting for my book.
The first thing I did was spend weeks researching proper categories and keywords for my novel – something that should have been done prior to publication. I’ll try to do a separate post on this because it’s vitally important.
Bargain Booksy
Once my book was as well-categorized and keyworded as possible, I decided to try pairing a Kindle Countdown Deal with a paid promotion on Bargain Booksy. Bargain Booksy sends out emails to subscribers about discounted books ($4.99 or less) in each reader’s chosen categories. The discounted books are also listed on BB’s website.
In my case, I paid $25 for my book to be emailed out to the 150,000+ subscribers in their “Young Adult” category. My book was already priced low enough that I didn’t have to reduce it further, but I dropped it to $0.99 just to sweeten the deal.
My Bargain Booksy promo email went out on a Monday (the first day of my countdown deal). One person bought the book that day. I made another two sales the following day, and one later that week. Four sales, in all, and though I didn’t make back anywhere near what I spent, it still felt better having people buy my book than giving it away for free and having no one even take it.
Despite not selling oodles of copies, I will say that Bargain Booksy was very easy to work with, and gave clear instructions on how to set the timing of the Countdown Deal so that it would match up perfectly with the promotional email.
Also, I signed up for their newsletter (they strongly encourage all authors to do so) and while I enjoy getting the daily emails featuring bargain YA books, I do wonder how many of their subscribers are actually fellow authors who signed up in the process of advertising their books.
Amazon Ads
Having gotten a taste of people actually buying my book, I didn’t want to turn back. My next foray into paid advertising was through Amazon Ads. I found an awesome tutorial which simplified the process of setting up different kinds of ads, and got to work.
My first campaign was a sponsored product ad with automatic keyword targeting and a small amount of custom text. In this model, Amazon would choose my keywords for me, I would get impressions (views) if my bid was competitive enough against other advertisers, and I would only pay if someone clicked on my ad.
I set my bid at $0.40 per click, sat back, and waited. Not much happened. My impressions were at zero, and I got impatient, so I upped my bid by five cents every day until I started getting impressions.
I think my bid was at $0.65 or $0.70 by this point, and I was getting about ten impressions per day – very low, but at the time I had no idea ten was a bad number (FYI: if you get one click per 1,000 impressions, and one sale for every ten clicks, that’s pretty good). I left it alone for a month, got no clicks (and therefore paid nothing), but felt good that at least a few people were seeing my book. It was no longer invisible.
The next month, I tried a manual targeting campaign (i.e. I chose my own keywords). This was fun because I had researched the heck out of keywords several months prior, and since you can only choose seven for your book’s metadata, a lot of really good ones didn’t make the cut. This gave me a chance to use them all and then some.
I unwisely set my default bid at $0.60, allowing it to go up to $0.90 for prime advertising real estate (e.g. the top of the search results page). Right away my impressions were in the upper hundreds/low thousands, and I started getting clicks. Sometime during that month, one of those clicks resulted in a sale. I was ecstatic – someone had discovered my book, read the description, and decided the novel was worth spending money on.
The next few months ran in a similar vein, though the spend gradually increased from $15 a month, to $20, to $25. I typically sold between 1-3 books per month through ad clicks, and was definitely in the red, but still feeling good about investing in my novel.
Things went both right and badly wrong in January. About a third of the way through the month, my sales jumped to $111.92. I thought it was a mistake. It turned out not to be.
Apparently, I had sold eight paperbacks from a single $0.75 click. This was really cool, but also confusing. Why would someone buy eight? I felt like I was missing something, something bad, but couldn’t figure out what it was. Part of me wondered if Amazon periodically buys books from its own advertisers, then resells them, all the while keeping authors addicted to ads via the sweet taste of making the occasional sale. I doubt this is the case, but wouldn’t it be a massive scandal?
No matter what the reason for the weird eight-book click, my impressions soared, as did my clicks, yet I failed to make another sale that month, landing me deeper in the red than ever before. In the end, I spent over fifty dollars on ads in January, and only made ten of it back in royalties.
Being on a very tight budget, I couldn’t afford to continue at this rate, and after a panicky and disastrous effort to quickly lower my bids, I ended up having to pause both my campaigns (the manual, and the automatic, which I had left running because it occasionally came alive and generated a few clicks, though never any sales).
I am not done with Amazon Ads, but I do need to regroup and figure out how to do it on a budget that works for me (i.e. much lower default bids). I also need to view it as a long-term investment and let things grow and build momentum slowly, rather than jacking up the bids in the first few days just to see some results.
Voracious Readers Only
Even though I sold some books through paid advertising, I felt that I could have sold more if readers had more than 3 or 4 reviews to peruse for info and opinions about my novel. In an effort to gain reviews and new readership, I did a free twenty-book giveaway on a site called Voracious Readers Only. This site focuses on connecting readers with fledgling authors, in hopes of the experience being beneficial for both parties.
Authors gain new readers (who are encouraged by the site to leave reviews), and also get to add those readers’ email addresses to their mailing lists. Readers get a steady stream of free books and the chance to help authors out by joining their mailing lists and leaving reviews.
To get the most out of my giveaway, I decided to first set up a mailing list. I signed up for a free account on MailerLite.com. They quickly informed me that sending out my newsletter from a free email address (e.g. yahoo, gmail, etc) was very bad and likely to go to spam instead of my readers’ inboxes. They recommended that I purchase my own domain and a professional email address to go with it.
Thus, what started off as a free venture ended up costing me $$$$$. When all was said and done, I owned my own website, and had a pro email address. Later, I got to thinking and decided to check the sender addresses of the author newsletters I am subscribed to. They were ALL free emails. **facepalm**
On the bright side, since I upgraded my WordPress site, you won’t have to look at those gross adds for reducing belly fat anymore. So, you’re welcome. 🙂
My experience with VRO was…interesting. Unlike Bargain Booksy, I didn’t find VRO’s interface to be user friendly. I was confused several times while setting up my giveaway, had no idea what information was going out to readers, and began to wonder whether it was even okay to put anyone’s email on my list, should I be lucky enough to get any requests.
Also, when entering info about my book, there was apparently a word count limit in the “reviews” section…however, the site didn’t let me know that. I included the three reviews I’d gotten from book bloggers (VRO asked for 3-5 reviews), but one of my reviews got cut off in the middle and there was no way to see this until after the form was already sent. I thought my form looked like a pile of crap, and worried that this was what readers were going to see.
The day of my giveaway arrived, and requests began to trickle in before the one-hour window opened, and continued all the way until the next morning, until I accumulated the promised total of 20 opt-ins. Thankfully, the communication from VRO on that day was clearer, and I at least understood that everyone who opted in had voluntarily signed up for my mailing list.
Time to get to work! I dutifully sent out copies of my ebook to everyone who asked for one, thanked them profusely, and signed them up for my newsletter. The automated Welcome message I’d set up on MailerLite seemed to go out exactly as planned. Roughly half of the readers opened the newsletter, while the rest ignored it or it got lost in their spam traps. One person immediately unsubscribed, which didn’t feel great, but I tried not to take it personally.
Still, I had a few subscribers, and that felt good. Roughly a month later, a new review popped up on Amazon from one of the VRO readers. Just a single word – “Stunning” – accompanied by a five star rating. It was definitely one of the better days I’ve had in a while. 🙂
Takeaways
Investing in my novel feels so much better than giving up on it.
Paid advertising DOES sell books, but so far not enough to cover the cost of the ads.
Giving my book away in exchange for subscriber email addresses seems more beneficial than just giving it away for nothing.
In case you missed that big purple button up there, I have a newsletter now! Here’s where you can sign up: https://subscribepage.io/gabassier_newsletter (if you’re on the fence about clicking, there’s a REALLY cute pic of my cat Black Canary on there).
I can’t wait to save up a bit of $$ and try more adventures in advertising!
Are you an indie author trying to market your books? What have you tried so far? What works for you and what doesn’t?
Just to start off: I am a majorMonk-aholic. I’ve seen every episode at least twice, plus read most of the excellent tie-in novels by Lee Goldberg. So naturally, I was thrilled to see an advertisement on Peacock for a brand new Monk movie. I watched Mr. Monk’s Last Case on the day it released – December 8th – and I’ve been wanting, maybe needing, to talk about it ever since.
The first thing fans need to know is that this movie has an underlying tone of despair which was not typical of the original series. I noticed by chance in the upper corner of the screen that one of the warnings on the film was for suicide. I frowned, thinking this might be an unintentional spoiler for the case Monk would be investigating. Not so.
The reason for the warning quickly becomes clear in the movie’s early scenes. Mr. Monk is not doing well at all. In fact, he is deeply depressed and planning to end his own life.
When last we saw Adrian, he was euphoric from finally solving his wife’s murder, and happily building a relationship with his newly-discovered step-daughter, Molly. But more than a decade has passed between then and now, and times have definitely changed. Over the course of the movie, we learn it’s not one big thing causing Monk’s depression, but rather a series of events and feelings that have all chipped at him over time.
Most of his loved ones have scattered and moved away, including Natalie. Monk is no longer working as a police consultant, and the only people he regularly interacts with are Molly, Dr. Bell, and Trudy (in the form of ghostly visions). Monk’s social isolation is sharp and palpable.
The pandemic dealt his mental health another crippling blow, causing a resurgence of his agoraphobia as well as cranking up his OCD to unbearable levels. Although Monk lived to see the other side, he never truly recovered from the trauma of being that afraid for so long.
There’s been much talk about how we all came out of the pandemic psychologically worse for wear. Whether or not you got the virus, whether or not you personally knew someone who passed away, we all have scars. No one came out of those years unscathed.
But there hasn’t been as much discussion about how it affected the people who were already struggling with demons like depression, germaphobia, isolation, etc. before Covid, how much worse it was for them. By now, most of the world has moved on, but there is this forgotten group of people who physically survived, but never fully came back. In some ways, I am one of them.
I appreciated that the movie talked about this, and using Mr. Monk as an example was the perfect way to explore the issue – a beloved character who is already well-known for his mental health battles, so we’d easily be able to understand just how hard everything hit him.
Monk’s suicidal intent is the dark current running beneath the rest of the plot, which features many of the character returns and emotional moments fans will be expecting.
The regular gang reunites for this adventure, including Stottlemeyer, Natalie, Randy, and Dr. Bell, all portrayed by their original actors. Trudy’s spirit plays an important role here, just as she did in the series, and Sharona appears in a flashback, so she is included as well.
The only recast is Molly, originally played by Alona Tal (aka Jo on Supernatural). Not sure why they cast a different actress for the film – possibly they wanted someone with a more easy, free-spirited vibe? – but it shouldn’t bother people too much as Molly’s only appearance on the original series was for probably about 60 seconds in the last episode, and the new actress, Caitlin McGee, does a great job.
The movie hits all the right beats for a typical Monk story:
Randy presents an outlandish “theory” about the case, complete with an equally ridiculous visual aid.
The Randy Disher Project gets a hilarious shout-out.
Adrian plays his clarinet (incorrectly identified in the closed captioning as an oboe).
Stottlemeyer grumpily disagrees with Monk about the prime suspect.
Monk gets to say his classic, “He’s the guy.”
Natalie and Monk team up to investigate, resulting in numerous car crashes and lots of hysterical screaming (Monk being the screamer, of course).
The bad guy looks like he’s going to get away with it.
Monk gets that smile on his face when he finally solves the case, closely followed by, “Here’s what happened…”
Another highlight was the introduction of the new, cooler-than-cool police captain, Lisa Rudner, who obviously knows a valuable asset when she sees one. She makes it very clear she wants Monk to return as a consultant. Although Rudner isn’t in this first movie that much (yes, despite the movie’s “last case” title, I would be surprised if they didn’t make another one), her brief scenes show that she cares more about getting justice for victims than about politics or appearances – a sharp contrast to Captain Stottlemeyer in his early days, when he hated having Monk called in on a case because it might make the captain and his officers look incompetent.
Overall, the mystery is not the most complex or well-written one in the history of the series, and there are a few plot holes I won’t get into here to avoid being spoilery, but emotion is the true engine of this story, and the movie has that in spades. From the devastatingly personal nature of the case to Monk’s private battle with depression, there is more than enough substance here to elevate the storyline to the status of a movie as opposed to just a super-sized episode.
Despite the many wonderful comedic moments, the sadness is what stayed with me most, so much so that when I walked in on my mom watching an old Monk episode the other day, my heart twisted at the knowledge of what is to come for this character, what he will have to endure before finally coming back into the light again.
And, yes, Mr. Monk does survive the movie. But not because one of his friends runs up at the last moment to knock the pills out of his hand. Despite Monk’s cryptic comments throughout the movie, and the concerned looks he gets from Natalie, Molly, and even Stottlemeyer, no one seems to know exactly how close he is to ending it all, and that’s scary.
Monk’s psychiatrist has a better idea of what’s going on than anyone else, and there’s an extremely touching scene that brings them both to tears (me too). But no matter how many people tell Monk he is loved and needed, it just doesn’t seem to sink in.
And as desperately as I wanted someone to get through to him, to shake him and yell at him and tie him down until he finally listened, in the end the decision to live comes from within Monk himself. I think it has to. The way it happens is sweet and special and I won’t spoil it, but it is worth seeing – just like the movie itself.
Honestly, I don’t know if it will hit most people as hard as it did me. It’s all about what you’ve been through, and what you’re going through right now. I’ve known three people who’ve taken their own lives, so this movie dredged up a lot of that old pain. For viewers without that personal history, it might just be like a regular Monk episode. For others, it might be too hard to even watch. Graphic images of Monk hoarding and counting out prescription sleeping pills, opening a high-rise window as if to jump out, writing goodbye letters to all of his loved ones – these could be triggers for people who are already on the brink.
In the end, I think it was an important movie exploring the after-effects of the pandemic on those who were already in crisis. It made me want to listen to “Hate Me” by Blue October. It made me want to check up on the people in my life. It made me want to check up on myself.
If you’re reading this, and you’re feeling some dark thoughts, I hope this movie inspires you to reach out for help. Or reach inward, as Monk does, and see the value you bring to this big, scary, wonderful world and the people in it. A value onlyyou can bring.
We’re never as alone as we think we are, and neither is Mr. Monk. (Keep watching past the credits, and you’ll see what I mean.)
Stay safe, take care of each other, and have a Happy New Year.
Okay, so when this movie came out in 2010, I was dying to see it, but I was also terrified because of its apparent similarity to my then-unpublished novel, Even Heroes. If memory serves, I would have been finished with the actual writing of the first draft in 2010, and possibly done typing it out (yes, I wrote my first draft by hand!), but it was still a 300K-word hot mess that was nowhere near ready for publication. Then along comes this movie about a regular kid who decides to go out and become a superhero in the real world – EXACTLY what my novel was about. So yeah, as a newbie writer, I freaked.
In the years since then, I’ve realized that having other stories out in the world that are similar to mine isn’t a bad thing – especially if people seem to like them. In fact, it’s good to know that there is an audience for your work, that it fits into some specific category (although, admittedly, real-world superhero tales don’t seem to be a very large category…yet). I’ve also come to realize that I didn’t have to be worried about being accused of copying Kick-Ass, or vice versa. Even if the plots bear a close resemblance, every author, every creator, has their own unique take on the subject matter that will set their work apart.
So, fast-forwarding to 2022, when one book blogger mentioned Kick-Ass in a review of my novel, I was delighted that someone made the connection. I also realized it was high time for me to watch the movie. Here’s what I thought:
At the beginning, I LOVED it. Dave Lizewski is a likeable teen who decides – despite having no powers, no training, and no special skills – to don a spandex costume and attempt to help people as a superhero named Kick-Ass. When he tries to intervene against some local thugs, things take a startlingly violent turn when Kick-Ass gets brutally stabbed and then hit by a car. A very realistic outcome, I thought, for someone with no training and no real plan. In the hospital, he awakens to find he’s had metal rods put in his body to stabilize broken bones (like the Wolverine!) and has sustained nerve damage which makes it difficult for him to feel pain (a superpower!).
Despite his disastrous initial attempt, Dave gets another costume (the paramedics kindly got rid of his first one before anyone saw it) and goes right back out for more superhero-ing. I love him for this. He has a kind heart and genuinely wants to help. He even goes so far as attempting to retrieve a lost cat named “Mr. Bitey.” That reminded me so much of a cut scene from my book that I had a huge grin on my face. What superhero story is complete without trying to save a cat from a tree (or in this case, a billboard platform)?
Kick-Ass eventually has his breakout moment, becoming an internet sensation when someone films him standing up against three criminals who are viciously beating a man on the street. It’s a great moment in the film, because the only thing keeping Dave standing is his heart (and his nerve damage, which allows him to withstand some of the worst blows).
At this point, I was full-on in love with the movie. Yes, it was bloody and gory, and the language was over-the-top foul, but it was every bit the realistic superhero story I’d hoped for.
Things went downhill for me when Kick-Ass heads to the apartment of some dangerous drug-dealer dude who’s been bothering Katie, a girl at school that Dave has a crush on. Kick-Ass is soon WAY over his head once again, facing down a group of armed gunmen ready and willing to kill him. Enter another costumed vigilante – an 11-year-old girl in a purple wig who, after saving Kick-Ass’s life, goes on to horrifically murder every single person in the apartment, including people who are fleeing and/or unarmed and begging for their lives.
In the wake of the senseless violence, the movie lost so much of its heart – as well as its believability. The purple-wigged Hit Girl and her father, a Batman-ish vigilante called Big Daddy, introduce themselves to Kick-Ass as the “real deal” compared to his wannabe superhero efforts (in my opinion, it’s Dave who’s the real deal – a person with his heart in the right place who’s trying his best). Hit Girl and Big Daddy have a completely carefree attitude about violence and killing, and happily stab, shoot, burn, and crush (yes, there’s a trash-compactor murder in there) their way through the criminal organization that Big Daddy blames for the death of his wife.
Seeing a father raising a young girl to be nothing but a revenge-obsessed killing machine was hard to watch. I also felt that Hit Girl’s skills were way too advanced for the amount of time she’d been trained by her father (she’s only 11, and he’d been in jail for at least part of her life). There is an action scene near the end of the movie that’s absolutely epic to watch – Hit Girl fighting her way through a hallway full of hardened killers – but there’s just no way a child that small with that little training could fight like that. I will say that the actress does a great job. I’m not a fan of little girls cussing every other word and slaughtering people with abandon, but there are moments when she is cornered and scared and grieving that she portrays very well.
Other storylines include Dave pretending to be gay to get close to Katie, and a kid named Chris who becomes a fake superhero to get close to Kick-Ass (Chris is really gathering intel for his father, the head of the drug operation Hit Girl and Big Daddy are targeting). There is a lot of potential in these elements, but too much of it is glossed over and underdeveloped. Not enough time is spent on Kick-Ass’s relationship with Chris’s alter-ego, Red Mist – a true friendship between the two could’ve made their battle at the end much more emotional. Likewise, I thought Katie was way too quick to forgive Dave for lying about being gay (and also for breaking into her room to reveal himself as Kick-Ass). The movie tried to cover too much ground, and many of the elements did not get the attention they deserved to make them full-fledged story arcs.
Despite the gruesome, over-the-top action finale, the movie does finally find its heart again through the bond between Kick-Ass and Hit Girl, who end up working together, and eventually trust each other enough to take off their masks and reveal their true identities.
In the end, I loved the concept for the movie, and some of the characters and relationships, but I wanted it to remain what it was in the beginning – a realistic story about a kid trying to be a superhero in the real world – rather than devolving into a tale of horrific child abuse and gratuitous violence. In order to get the regular-teen-becomes-a-hero flick I’m truly longing for, I may just have to take a page out of Kick-Ass producer Matthew Vaughn’s book and make the movie myself. Realistically, would I ever be able to raise the budget for a film adaptation of Even Heroes at a dinner party? Probably not. But would the movie be epic if it ever got made? Totally.
Several years back, I attended a writers meeting at a nearby library. My hope was to find someone who’d be willing to read my first novel, which at the time was still grossly overlength and badly needed a fresh pair of eyes. If I could find someone else who wrote YA, we could do a beta reading exchange, and both benefit from it. At least, that’s what the little optimistic voice in my head kept saying. Sadly, when the authors in attendance split off into groups based on genre and age group, my name was the only one listed under “Young Adult.” Despite connecting with an awesome bunch of talented and friendly authors, I was still out of luck when it came to getting help with my book. Or so I thought.
On a desperate whim, I decided to reach out to the woman who’d organized the event. She wrote romance and chick lit – not even close to my category – but I knew she’d written at least two or three novels, which (combined) would be the equivalent length of mine. Plus she seemed super nice. Genre differences aside, maybe she’d be willing to do an exchange.
I was a ball of nervous energy as I sent the email. I’d tried to get help from other authors before, but no one seemed interested (who could blame them, considering the 150K word count), and at that length I certainly couldn’t afford a professional editor charging $3-4 per page. I’d been stuck on this same problem for years, and was beginning to feel hopeless.
When I started reading her reply, that feeling of hopelessness stabbed deeper. She didn’t currently have any books that she needed beta-ed. So, that was that. Then I read the next line: but she would be happy to read my book anyway. I couldn’t believe it. I think I might’ve cried a little.
Instead of just reading the book, this woman – Anna – did something even more amazing. She read it with her then ten-and-a-half-year-old son. They gave me feedback throughout the entire process, telling me what chapter they were on, what they liked, and what needed help. After they were finished, they gave me a list of notes that became my bible as I revised my novel for publication. It was more than I ever could have asked for.
In the time since then, Anna and I have become what she dubbed “writing partners.” Mismatched as we are – she writes romance and easy-going chick lit, I write dark stuff; I’m a planner, she’s a pantser – somehow it works. She began to write a new novel, and I got the opportunity to read it chapter by chapter, giving feedback on each freshly-minted scene. I’d never read something in real time before, right as the author was creating it, and it was pretty cool to be part of that experience.
It didn’t hurt that the book was hilarious, fast-paced, and had me rooting for the main character, Paige, all the way through. As Paige struggled with the ins and outs of getting started in the cut-throat real estate business, I saw my own battle to make it as a writer: the moments of elation, the moments of self-doubt, the moments of despair when giving up feels like the only sane course of action. Paige’s refusal to let those dark moments drag her down made me want to keep my head up and keep fighting too.
Several years down the road, I am still in that fight. Publishing my first novel – the one Anna and her son so generously helped me with – was a definite moment of triumph, but success still seems miles away. I haven’t found my audience yet, my sales are nonexistent, and my writing flame – once a roaring inferno in the pre-pandemic era – is barely a flicker these days.
What better time, then, for Paige to come back into my life, her adventures finally published for the world to enjoy? Reading this book is a fond trip down memory lane – making me laugh all over again at all of the horrible stuff Paige has to go through (the mentor from hell, constant babysitting, delusional clients, a haunted mansion no one wants to buy) , and also reminding me that she has to go through all that stuff to earn her success at the end of the story.
I don’t know what my own life story’s ending will look like, whether I’ll ever truly “make it” as a writer or not, but I sure am glad to have an awesome writing partner like Anna. And I am so totally, insanely proud of her for publishing her first book at long last.
“The part of Joey Buchanan is now being played by Nathan Fillion.”
I remember that moment so clearly, sitting there watching One Life To Live with my mom. Being diehard soap fans, we were more than familiar with recasts – they happened about as often as hummingbirds flap their wings (i.e., constantly). And unless you kept up with Soap Opera Digest or one of the other magazines, you could really be caught off guard. Sometimes it hurt – a beloved favorite suddenly gone, and a new face thrust in front of us with the expectation that viewers should simply accept the change and adjust. Other times, a role had been recast so many times, or the character just wasn’t that memorable to begin with, so a new actor meant nothing aside from a brief eye roll (Another recast? Oy.).
OLTL’s Joey Buchanan fell into the second category. As viewers, we didn’t really care about the character…until that fateful day mentioned above. Right from the first scene, Nathan had his hooks in us. Joey’s playful interactions with his family members felt funny and warm and natural. Mom and I looked at one another and decided, “We like him.”
Of course, little did we know that Nathan Fillion would go on to become the very definition of a megastar, ruling genre television and police procedurals alike with starring roles in Firefly, Castle, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, The Rookie, and many more. He also voices the character of Octopus on my current favorite series, Resident Alien (if you haven’t seen it yet, go stream it on Peacock right away!). Nathan is the perfect example of how a talented actor can make a previously bland character into one audiences can’t get enough of.
Watch Nathan’s first scene as Joey, courtesy of Jasmine on YouTube:
Lois & Clark (& Jimmy 2.0)
Mom and I had a much stronger – and more negative – reaction when we heard that same cheesy voiceover announcing that the character of Jimmy Olsen on Lois & Clark would now be played by Justin Whalin. While recasts are a dime a dozen on daytime television, they are far less frequent when you enter the realm of prime time and movies. So, no eye rolls this time. We were attached to Michael Landes’ portrayal of Jimmy and didn’t understand the change. My mom theorized that Michael looked a little too similar to Dean Cain, who was playing Clark Kent. A brief internet search indicates she may have been right (go, Mom!), but it does raise the question: if he looked too much like Clark’s little bro, why cast him in the first place? It’s not like Michael suddenly started resembling Dean. Maybe there were other reasons we’ll never hear about.
In any case, the Jimmy Olsen recast was a rough one. All recasts take the viewer out of the reality of the fictional world, reminding us that we are just watching a show or movie. And since this was my favorite show – the marvelous escape that helped me cope with the real stuff going on in my life – I definitely didn’t appreciate the interruption. Justin (AKA Jimmy 2.0) acknowledged on the special features portion of one of the L&C DVD sets that he didn’t get the warmest welcome from fans, receiving a lot of negative letters in the first part of his initial season. However, by about halfway through, the tides were turning and he was getting about a 50-50 mix of good and bad fan mail.
Personally, I think I started to warm up to him around episode seven, “That Old Gang of Mine.” Jimmy’s heartbroken grief after Clark Kent is “murdered” in that ep really tugged on my teenage heartstrings. If he was that devastated after losing a friend, my young mind reasoned, then he must be a pretty good guy. 🙂
Iron Man and Rhodey: The Missing Bond
Unlike my initial dismay over the new Jimmy on L&C, the recast of James Rhodes in Iron Man 2 was just plain confusing for me. Admittedly, I am not great with names, so it took me a beat (and a rewatch of the first film) to realize that this newcomer, Don Cheadle, was supposed to be playing the same character that had previously been portrayed by Terrence Howard. Another rocky transition for me, since I thought Terrence was great in Iron Man. The writers really took the time to show the bond between Rhodey and Tony in that initial movie, and with a new actor, the relationship between the two characters just didn’t feel the same. Of course, Don Cheadle ROCKS as War Machine, so he eventually won me over, but if I were a writer working on that franchise (I wish, LOL!), I think I would have added a bonding scene between Tony and Rhodey 2.0 early in Iron Man 2 to help audiences get over the hump and begin to form that connection to the new actor.
A Tale of Three Carlys
When it comes to recasts, it’s cool to acknowledge the different strengths each actor brings to the role, rather than just trying to forget any previous incarnations of the character ever existed. Michael Landes was charming and hilarious as Jimmy, while Justin Whalin was sweet, sincere, and boyishly innocent. Terrence Howard’s Rhodey had a memorable bond with Tony Stark, while Don Cheadle’s version kicked all kinds of butt fighting side-by-side with Iron Man against Whiplash (and added some great humor when his suit’s tech malfunctioned).
General Hospital did something really interesting a few years back, where they paid homage to all of the actresses to ever play the role of Carly through the years, bringing back each performer for a single, memorable scene alongside costar Maurice Benard. It was a little bit weird, but also a really nice touch to see a show so boldly acknowledge (rather than shy away from) the uncomfortable but sometimes necessary issue of recasts.
In Loving Memory
Recasts can happen due to a variety of circumstances – financial disagreements, personal issues, an actor no longer being available – but the very worst reason is, of course, that the actor has passed away in real life. Such was the case with Michael Gambon replacing Richard Harris as Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies. I loved Harris’s Dumbledore for the sweet, grandfatherly affection he showed Harry, and the sparkle in his eye. Gambon brought more quirkiness and mystery to the role. Together, they made the perfect wise old wizard.
While Dumbledore had to be recast for the pre-written storyline to work, there are other times when replacing a deceased actor just wouldn’t feel right. After Christopher Reeve passed away, Smallville decided to have his memorable and magnetic character, Dr. Swann, also perish. The grief on the show mirrored our grief in real life. The same goes for the character of Dr. Kroger on Monk. After the loss of actor Stanley Kamel, Monk paid tribute to its fallen cast member in the best way possible – by showing Adrian Monk grapple, and eventually make peace, with the death of his beloved psychiatrist, Dr. Kroger.
Superman and Lois (and Jon Kent 2.0)
Over the summer, while searching for the premiere date of my other current favorite show, Superman and Lois, I stumbled across the news that Jon Kent would no longer be played by Jordan Elsass. The news was upsetting, but at least I had ample time to adjust before the show actually began airing its third season. Still, I was nervous as I sat down to watch the premiere. Elsass was memorable, and I could tell from the amount of fanfiction written about his version of the character that he really made an impact on viewers.
So far, despite my reservations, I am happy with how Superman and Lois has handled the difficult situation of replacing one of their main actors. They didn’t shove the change in our faces, but they didn’t sweep it under the rug either (and very thankfully, they did not make that super cheesy voiceover announcement!). Over the course of S3’s first several episodes, we are gradually getting to know Michael Bishop’s version of Jon. I feel like he has the right vibe for the character. He’s sweet and earnest, funny yet serious when he needs to be. As Nathan Fillion showed us almost twenty-nine years ago, recasts do not have to be horrible. As Justin Whalin, Michael Gambon, and others have demonstrated through the years, a new actor can make a role special in their own way, without taking away from what came before. I’ll always look back fondly on what Elsass brought to the character of Jon Kent, and I can’t wait to see how Bishop grows into his own version of the fair-haired Kent brother.
As writers, we’re always looking for the perfect POV that will really bring our books and stories to life. For my own novels, I tend to use either third person limited (this is what I think most readers are comfortable with) or first person. I’ve also dabbled with alternating third person perspectives, which I think worked well in my Mentalist fic, Red Brick Road.
Recently, I’ve read a couple of books that used something I’ve never tried before: alternating first person perspectives. The books each focused on two main characters, a male and a female. The POV shifted from one to the other every time a new chapter started. In each case, the POV character’s name was printed on the first page of the chapter, e.g.:
Chapter One: Bobby Chapter Two: Lisa Chapter Three: Bobby
This was done – I assume – to prevent readers from becoming confused. I’ll be honest, though – despite this extra effort to be clear, I still frequently forgot which character’s POV I was in. It happened often enough that it got annoying. I would either have to flip back to the first page of the chapter to check the name, or else wait until an obvious clue popped up. If the POV character started talking about Lisa, then I’d know I was reading Bobby’s perspective. If the character adjusted her bra strap, then I’d know it was Lisa (that, or we just learned something really interesting about Bobby).
One of the books I’m referring to here is Allegiant, the third installment of the Divergent series. In perusing the reviews on Goodreads, I found another reader who mentioned the same issue of losing track of which POV was which. The reviewer stated that Tris and Tobias’ voices were not distinctive enough to immediately tell the difference between them.
As soon as I read this, I thought, Yes! That’s exactly it!
In identifying the problem with Allegiant’s alternating perspectives, I think this reviewer also helped provide a possible solution to any writer brave enough to attempt this feat:
Make those POVs different. Make each character’s voice so friggin’ distinctive that you can randomly select any sentence from any chapter, and instantly know whose perspective it is – without having to cheat and look at the first page of the chapter.
I think this would be extremely hard to pull off successfully, but I believe it could be done. That said, anyone considering writing a novel in alternating first person POV should know the potential pitfalls. Even a brief moment of confusion or disorientation takes the reader out of the story, which is a bad thing (especially if it happens over and over again). And just putting the character’s name on the first page of the chapter simply isn’t enough, so really think about whether this POV is the best choice.
Of course, if your heart is absolutely set on alternating first person POV, then there’s nothing I can say to change your mind (we writers can be so stubborn when it comes to our babies). But if you’re still on the fence, consider some other options that might be more effective and easier to execute:
My writing partner is just finishing up a novel that alternates POV between the main character (first person POV) and her love interest (third person). It is easy to tell the difference between the two perspectives, and allows the reader to feel deeply bonded to the main character while still exploring the thoughts and emotions of her past (and future) boyfriend.
If you desperately want to do two first person POVs, consider writing the first half of the book from Character One’s perspective, and the second half from Character Two’s perspective. I think this would allow readers time to settle in to each POV without being jolted or confused by constant switching back and forth.
Alternating third person POV is super fun to write; it lets you explore the thoughts, experiences, and voices of multiple characters. And since you are frequently mentioning the character by name and pronoun, your readers will not have a chance to forget which perspective they are immersed in.
When in doubt, read as many books and stories as you can. Soon enough, you’ll see for yourself what works and what doesn’t, and you’ll know exactly what to do when crafting your own piece of literary art.
It’s been a little over a year since I self published my first novel, and it has been a LOT of fun, as well as a huge learning experience.
The happiest moments so far:
Seeing my book’s product page for the very first time
Having friends and family send me pictures of my novel after they bought it, or screenshots of themselves ordering it
Getting a multi-page letter from one of my uncles, out of the blue, with a detailed review of the book and the words “This is the best book I’ve read so far this year.” Okay, it was only March at that point, but still. ;P
Hearing from another uncle that he’d given a copy of the novel to his grocery shopper, and she “loved the book, could not put it down, and even cried at times.”
It’s really hard to get readers when you don’t have many reviews.
It’s really hard to get reviews when you don’t have many readers.
Right now, I am still struggling to break out of this chicken-and-egg cycle. I totally get why people wouldn’t want to buy a book – or any product – that doesn’t have reviews, because the quality might be poor. I also totally get that most people don’t have lots of money to spend at the present time. Heck, the majority of books I read these days are either library books or those obtained through giveaways. Free books rule – and I think they’re a really great way to find a new audience.
On that note, I am SUPER excited to be holding my very first free promotion for Even Heroes, which will run today (Monday, January 16th) through Friday (the 20th). My ebook will cost a very affordable $0.00 for all readers during that period. You should be able to simply visit the product page on Amazon, and then download the book to the reading device of your choice. I really, really hope some folks who don’t have any extra money (or are just wary about trying out an unknown author) decide to give my novel a chance. If you miss the promotion, don’t worry, there will be more in the future (plus, the book is already free to borrow for anyone with a Kindle Unlimited subscription).
And hey, if you do decide to give it a go, please consider leaving a review. Or even just recommending the book to a friend or family member, who might then enjoy it and pass it on to someone else. Word of mouth is a powerful tool, and I have personally discovered plenty of great books through recommendations.
At the end of the day, though my sales are basically nonexistent and KU subscribers haven’t borrowed a single copy yet, my chin is up. I have no regrets about self publishing, and can’t wait to share more of my titles this way. I knew this would be a hard road. I knew I would get out what I put into it, and I haven’t done nearly enough yet to promote the book. Hopefully in time, with many more books and giveaways under my belt, I will actually find my readers. In the meantime, my wonderfully supportive friends and family (plus some very encouraging reviews) help me keep the faith that I do have something special to share with the world. 🙂
So, it’s Halloween, AKA the one day a year I actually have a legitimate excuse to wear my werewolf masks (no the plural is not a typo – I have two masks, as well as a set of fuzzy ears, a pair of paws, and a tail). As you can probably tell from the above sentence, werewolves are kinda my thing. I’ve spent the last several months reading and watching all manner of lycanthropic entertainment. Now seems like a great time to give you guys the skinny (or should I say the hairy?) on the numerous fur-raising tales I’ve been dipping into!
Enjoy, and let the good times howl!
TV
Wolf Like Me (Peacock) This show was the whole reason I signed up for Peacock. It just looked SO good. And I am thrilled to say it more than lived up to expectations. The show centers around Mary (a werewolf with a tragic past), Gary (a widower struggling to raise a young daughter), and Emma (Gary’s daughter, who suffers from severe anxiety, depression, and panic attacks). Wolf Like Me is a beautifully written and performed story told in six bite-sized episodes. It is part rom-com, part drama, with a little bit of horror thrown in for good measure. You will fall in love with the characters, laughing out loud at some points and holding your breath at others. I devoured this show in about three days, then immediately rewatched the final episode because it was next-level good in terms of the emotional payoff. I have since showed the series to my mom, who also really enjoyed it. When we got to the last episode, I asked her if she was excited for the final installment. She said, “Yes and no.” She wanted to see how it all turned out, but also was sad that there would be no more episodes. It was definitely over too soon, and I can’t wait for season two, assuming we get one (I think we will!).
Wolfblood (Peacock) A cute British show for kids/tweens about a species of werewolf-like creatures struggling to keep their secret while dealing with all kinds of normal teen drama and various supernatural dilemmas. To be honest, this one is worth watching for the accents alone – you’ve got all manner of British, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, and more, and being an American, I could listen to those voices talk all day long. A few of the storylines would definitely be more of interest to younger viewers than adults, but overall I had so much fun watching seasons 1-3 (all they had on Peacock, though apparently there are 2 more seasons floating out there somewhere). The wolves were very obviously CG, but at least they were cute-looking. The characters were very well-drawn, with even people like the mean girls and the class bully getting backstories, so that no one was just one-dimensional, and everyone was a redeemable human (or wolf). By the end, I felt like they were family, and I was sad when it was time to say goodbye.
The Order (Netflix) The pacing is a bit manic on this college-set drama, rushing from one storyline to the next as if the writers thought the audience had super short attention spans or something. That said, the actors are likeable, and have good chemistry together, making me care about the characters and their problems. There were a lot of cool details, including the use of wolf pelts to create the werewolves (rather than the typical “infection by bite” mode) and a practical explanation for the purpose of werewolves and why they eat the hearts of their victims. I found this a refreshing change from the norm. Also of note: season one did a great job of making the werewolves scary by not showing too much. There’d be a paw, or a snout, or a massive silhouette, or even just someone reacting to what it looked like without the beast appearing on screen. The wolves do eventually show up in their entirety, but the build-up was nice. I’d like to see another season of this, especially as it ended on a cliffhanger, but I don’t know if there’s any chance of it actually happening.
Books
Bitten(Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Book One)by Noelle Marie
I found myself engaged by this story of a young woman whose life gets completely upended after she is bitten by a werewolf, witnesses her family being attacked (and presumably killed) by brutal assailants, and then finds herself kidnapped and held against her will by a group of werewolves “for her own protection.” I liked most of the characters, including the lead, Katherine, and many members of her pack as well as students at the special werewolf school she ends up attending. The whole “werewolf society” thing was cool. There was even an awesome, all-female pack that I desperately wanted Katherine to join.
The one thing that grated me about this book was the character of Bastian. I hated him and the way he treated Katherine, which to me read like abusive behavior. He bit her and turned her into a werewolf, jeopardizing her life and her family’s lives simply because his wolf was attracted to her and couldn’t “control himself.” Bastian follows this up by kidnapping Katherine, obsessively micromanaging every detail of her life (she is not allowed to go anywhere or do anything without his permission), peeing on her to mark her as territory (for her “protection”), saying nasty things like “I wish I’d never met you” and then later apologizing that he didn’t mean it, etc. I was cheering Katherine on whenever she did anything to defy him, and cringing whenever they had romantic moments. The reason for some of Bastian’s disgusting behavior is explained by the end of the book, but in my mind the explanation didn’t really do anything to excuse his actions. I want her to ditch his sorry butt.
Unleashed(Wolf Springs Chronicles, Book One)by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
This book stands out from the pack (pun intended!) because of the really creepy atmosphere. The main character, Kat, has just moved in with her grandfather outside the remote town of Wolf Springs. Their cabin is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by woods. She is not allowed to go out by herself at night. She isn’t even allowed to step off the porch after dark. Strange noises emanate from the darkness – including screams and weird drumming/chanting from a nearby corporate retreat. A girl has been murdered prior to Kat’s arrival in Wolf Springs, and a second death occurs right after Kat moves in, heightening the fear level. Even the reveal about the existence of werewolves – which the reader should see coming, given the topic of the book – is handled in an eerie and believable way, adding to the creep factor.
Kat did frustrate me at times, taking actions that very obviously were not smart, just in order to move the plot along. Seriously, if people were getting murdered/mauled to death in the woods at night, and basically everyone on the planet had already warned you not to drive home alone, I don’t think you would forget or ignore this information just because of a fight with a guy.
Overall, though, I thought the book was well-written. I have mixed feelings about the end, as there was no resolution to any of the plot points. However, the chilling atmosphere and numerous mysteries kept me engaged, and I definitely want to read the next book in the series!
The Wolf Giftby Anne Rice
I’d never read an Anne Rice book before, and I must say I was very impressed with the writing. Beautiful descriptions, expert characterization, and a compelling tale of a newly-turned “man-wolf” made this a highly enjoyable read. I especially liked that the main werewolf, Reuben, used his gift to dispatch the most deplorable criminals imaginable (including child murderers and someone who was trying to light a homeless man on fire), making him like a really vicious superhero/vigilante. My main complaint would be that never at any point does he consider not killing his victims, even though he’s plenty strong enough to contain perpetrators with nonlethal force. The only other thing that bothered me was that Reuben’s main love interest, Laura, was the only character not particularly well fleshed out. They decided to move in together and spend the rest of their lives together after just barely meeting each other and having sex two times. Insta-love is a big no-no for me, but overall I really enjoyed the book. There are some beautiful philosophical passages as well as a few “science behind the transformation” tidbits which were refreshing because most authors don’t attempt to explain something like that in medical terms. I will definitely read the sequel at some point.
Mercy Thompson Series, Books 1-3 (Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed) by Patricia Briggs
As you can tell by the fact that I read the first three books, I am hooked on this urban fantasy series about a Native American woman who can transform into a coyote at will. She also happens to be a mechanic and a total badass who was raised with werewolves and therefore does not take crap from them. So far, these books tend to involve murder mysteries that Mercy gets involved in due to her ties to the supernatural community, which includes fae, vampires, witches, and the aforementioned wolves. I thought the plot of the first book was a tad overly complicated, with possibly too many characters introduced. For a supposed loner, we find out that Mercy is actually close with her neighbor, Adam (the local wolf pack’s Alpha), and Adam’s daughter, Jesse, and Adam’s third in command, Warren, and Warren’s boyfriend, Kyle, and the local cop, Tony, and the fae guy Mercy bought her garage from, Zee, and the friendly-ish vampire, Stefan, and well, you get the picture – it’s a lot of people in her life, and that’s before the folks from her past get involved. So I was a little overwhelmed in book one, but I settled right into book two with all of the characters and relationships already established, and it’s been smooth sailing ever since. I love Mercy’s voice and her personality. Looking forward to book four and beyond!
Cry Wolf (Book One of the Alpha and Omega Series) by Patricia Briggs
I gave this book a chance because my library only had the first three Mercy Thompson installments (plus one from way later in the series, but no way am I reading them out of order). I read the audiobook version, which is not my preference, and may have colored my perception of the story. This book takes place in the Mercy Thompson universe, shortly after the events of Moon Called, so there are some spoilers for that one. The characters were okay, but not as compelling as the main characters in the Mercy books. The book cover did not mention that it was an abridged edition, but I felt like something might have been missing from the beginning. Anna and Charles, who have only just met, are already “mated” to each other in wolf form (meaning their wolves just instantly fell in love/lust/whatever). We didn’t get to see when this moment occurred, but we do know the two are virtual strangers, which made it uncomfortable for me that they were already bonded for life. Another case of insta-love that left me sour, because I think people need to spend a lot of time together before making a commitment like that, whether your wolf is horny or not. The story has some cool elements of magic and a really nice newly-turned werewolf who sadly doesn’t survive to the end of the book. The concept of what Anna is, an Omega wolf who can’t be controlled by an Alpha and has the power to calm other wolves, was interesting, but I didn’t love her character or Charles and therefore wasn’t super-invested in their romance.
Movies
Ginger Snaps
This one had been on my radar ever since I encountered it on someone’s top ten list of best werewolf movies. Given that decent werewolf movies are hard to come by, I was really looking forward to this, and it did not let me down. It was a well-written and well-acted film with a compelling storyline paralleling the brutal changes of becoming a wolf with the volatile body changes a teenage girl undergoes during puberty. I must say this is absolutely the goriest werewolf movie I’ve ever seen. A total blood and guts fest. It was a bit shocking. The other thing that caught me off guard was the amount of suicide imagery. One of the main characters, Ginger, is obsessed with death and the idea of killing herself, and the film is filled to the brim with every graphic image of self-inflicted death you could imagine. If you or the person you’d be watching it with are going through any kind of depression, I would not recommend this movie, as it could be a trigger. The special effects were good, and the final form of the beast is truly hideous. Nothing pretty about this film at all, but it is well-done and worth watching if you can stomach it.
I Am Lisa
Okay, the concept of this movie sounded great – a young woman is brutalized and left for dead in the woods by a group of nasty peers. Instead of dying, she is bitten by a werewolf and then uses her newfound abilities to exact revenge on the ones who attacked her. So yeah, it sounds bloody awesome, but sadly I just felt like the writing was terrible and I couldn’t get into it at all. A lot of the characters seemed flat, and people did not behave logically or with any clear motive. At one point Lisa (the werewolf) and her best friend wisely decide that they should leave town. They then continue to hang around in town as if the conversation never took place. I didn’t finish watching this movie, so maybe it got better in the final third, but life’s too short to watch something you’re not enjoying, so I decided not to keep pushing through.
Battledogs
Like the previous film, this one had a cool-sounding concept. The idea of using werewolves for military applications isn’t explored often enough, and I thought the plot might be cool if nothing else. I’m sorry to say this is a ridiculously bad movie. I think it knows it is a bad movie, and even embraces its own terribleness, and those kinds of movies can be fun to watch, especially with friends. There is no real development of plot or character, it’s all just one action scene after another, weak explanations for elements that just plain don’t make sense, etc. I probably would have finished this one, despite how much it sucked, but I grew uncomfortable with the fact that all the “hero” characters were white, and the two main “bad guys” were Black and Native American. (The lead baddie is actually played by our beloved Dennis Haysbert, who was so memorable as God on Lucifer. His talents were wasted here.) There was one Black character (portrayed by Ernie Hudson of Ghostbusters fame) helping the protagonists, but he got senselessly murdered halfway through the film. Shortly after that, I just kind of called it quits. If you like constant werewolf action and blatantly stupid writing, you might like this one.
I don’t have Disney+ at the moment, but at some point hopefully we’ll get it back and I can dive headfirst into Werewolf by Night. In the meantime, I bid you happy watching, happy reading, and a very happy Howl-o-ween!
For a REALLY long time, I didn’t have a Twitter account. I had no idea what I’d even do with one. Then my favorite TV show got cancelled, and Twitter seemed to be the main avenue for fans to protest this development and try to bring the show back. Being the devoted fangirl that I am, of course I had to fight against the unjust cancellation of something great (#SaveForever!), so I signed up for Twitter. And even though our campaign eventually failed (cue the heartbroken sobbing), I did have tons of fun connecting with other diehard fans of the show. Just knowing how many people loved Forever helped ease the pain of its loss.
In the years since then, I’ve continued to use Twitter to fight the good fangirl fight. Sometimes we won (#SaveLucifer, yeah baby!!!), other times we lost (I’m so sorry, Limitless – I tried!), but it was always amazing to have a voice and join forces with other fans in support of a common goal.
Having a Twitter account came in handy for other purposes, too. For example, I linked my Twitter to this blog, so whenever a new post goes up on here, my Twitter followers (all twelve of them!!) can see it. Being on Twitter also allowed me to participate in several Chicken Soup for the Soul book release parties, where I made some awesome connections with fellow CSS authors.
But the best was yet to come. In the process of trying to get some much-needed reviews for my novel, I contacted Crowvus Book Blog (https://crowvusbookblog.blogspot.com). To my delight, one of the authors, Judith Crow, agreed to read and review my book (you can read Judith’s review of Even Heroes here: https://crowvusbookblog.blogspot.com/2022/02/book-review-even-heroes-by-g-bassier.html). A few weeks later, Judith contacted me about a new program initiated by Crowvus: a Twitter account that would be curated by a different author each week. It would be a chance to get more exposure for my book, and network with other authors and readers. How could a girl say no to that? 🙂
Thus, for one crazy week back in the spring, I was the curator of the @WeeklyScribe Twitter account. To say it was an amazing experience would be an understatement. At first, I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to really do a great job and provide top-notch content. I was, after all, the first American to curate the account, the first person not associated with Crowvus to curate the account, and I think basically the second person to do it ever. So I wanted to really represent their brand in a respectable way and not do anything to horribly embarrass or offend anyone.
Initially I had a very strict schedule of Tweets laid out. I was going to do two or three posts on a specific topic each day. They were all pre-written. Once I dove in, however, I started to remember what Twitter immersion really feels like. My rigid plans quickly started to loosen up, and I really began to interact organically with other authors. I noticed that polls got a nice response, so I added a few more than I planned. And, while I made sure to post new content every day, I ended up finding more pleasure in reading other people’s Tweets and commenting, liking, following, and sometimes even Re-Tweeting.
I dove happily down the rabbit hole, responding to Tweets about plot, characterization, favorite books, indie publishing vs. traditional, editing habits, etc. I shared quotes and details about my novel, and eagerly read passages posted by other authors – their opening lines, banter between their characters, even silly things, like their main character’s favorite brand of soap.
This may not seem like a big deal to you, but as a writer, I’ve basically been wandering alone in the desert for three years. And suddenly, I was swimming in a lake of writing advice, shared experiences, and jokes about the dreaded synopsis that only other authors would understand. It was heaven! It reminded me just how much of a geek I am about writing. How I could talk about it all day long and well into the night. How it keeps my heart pumping in a world that sometimes feels dead.
I really, really needed that reminder.
In the months since my time as @WeeklyScribe, I have mostly crawled back into my cave, content to be a Twitter hermit. However, I do actually come out into the sunshine once in a while, and when I do, I enthusiastically start checking every hashtag to do with writing (my faves are #WritingCommunity and #writingquestion). And then I start reading those Tweets, and liking, and commenting, and following. I don’t want to lose that lifeline to people who “get” me, now that I’ve finally got it back.
Also, maybe even more significantly, this experience inspired me to start writing again. I am happy to report that I have completed the first chapter of a brand new novel, and Chapter Two is in progress. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless.
So, that was my week as @WeeklyScribe. If you are an author interested in curating the @WeeklyScribe account, I have three words for you: GO FOR IT!! You’ll be so glad you did. I know I was.
as the HERO flies... 