Yes, I am a freak.

I have this weird thing about diseases. It's a combination of overactive imagination and anxious tendencies. Whatever disease read about, hear about, whatever, I inevitably begin to see said symptoms in me. It's a pain in the ass, but most of the time, I can manage it by just avoiding books, movies, tv shows, where a character is suffering from a specific fatal disease that I could conceivably contract. They're usually depressing anyway, so I don't feel like I'm missing too much. Life is real enough. I like my fiction, whether on screen or on the page, to be an escape.

 

But, alas, this week I was ambushed! I picked up a book that looked interesting and remembered, vaguely, that I'd decided against reading it before for some unknown reason. Well, this time, I decided to just go for it. Yep, major character, approximately my age, dead from an undiagnosed brain tumor. Fab. u. lous.

 

Can I tell you that it took me approximately 10 seconds after discovering this to start seeing mysterious spots and convince myself that my regular old migraine headache (which I've been getting for years) had to be "symptoms"?" Arggh.

 

I want warning labels, people.

My interview is up!

I did a promotional interview through Nikki Leigh and it's now posted.

 

: )

 

http://inspiredauthor.com/v3/blogs/litekepr/stacey-klemstein-promotional-interview

Books!

I received my copies of Eye of the Beholder from my publisher this weekend. I'm thinking it should be up and available on Amazon soon. I'm not quite sure what the hold up is. My thanks to all of you who pre-ordered. I promise, it is done and it will be coming to you soon!

So, what's new?

I feel strangely out of practice, sitting down to write a blog entry. Let's see what I can ramble about...

 

First, a quick reminder...

Tomorrow night at the Schaumburg Library at 7:00 p.m., I'm teaching "The Secret to a Good Query Letter." I'll be giving the same presentation at the Des Plaines Library on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Come on over and see me! Learn a lot about query letters and improving (hopefully) your response rate.

 

I miss SCC.

It's only been a week or so, but I miss the Sarah Conner Chronicles already. It's the only show I made time for during my self-imposed hermit-dom. I realize that we're still suffering the effects of the strike and new episodes of some shows will be returning soon. But I'm going to have to wait until fall for more SCC, and that's if they renew it. There were some iffy episodes (the one where John gets locked in the warehouse with the Terminator who is in standby mode? Ugh.), but most of them were, in my opinion, pretty good. And actually as reluctant as I am to admit it, once I got past thinking "David Silver" every time Brian Austin Green showed up on screen, I kinda liked his portrayal of Derek Reese. The, um, shower scene may have helped.

 

The season finale--two eps run together--were actually two of my favorite. I loved Derek's birthday gift to John. John was not too horribly whiny. And the interaction between Cameron and John was intriguing and endearing at moments. Bring on more, please!

 

Of course, I've got less than a month now until BSG returns on April 4, and I'm beyond excited for that. Does anyone know if they will be running all the remaining episodes during this "season" or are they going to make us wait until '09 to get the last eight or ten or so? I know some of the eps weren't finished by the time the strike rolled around.

 

Books you must read!

Grimspace by Ann Aguirre: Fantastic SFR novel in my opinion. Interesting concept and well written. Can't wait for the sequel!

 

The Other Boelyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory: I don't typically read historical novels, but I got completely sucked into this one and couldn't stop. It was flat-out fascinating.

 

Good Girls by Laura Ruby: I read her collection of adult short stories and they didn't really speak to me, but I LOVED this YA book. Above all things, I liked how it took a different approach to the topic of teen sex and, in particular, the female view of it. Also shows how sex scenes can be emotional, moving, surprisingly detailed and NOT sleazy. Above all else, it is not overtly lesson-y. I SO appreciate that. : )

 

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson: To be fair, I just started this one, but I love her books (I think they're technically considered either mainstream fiction or women's fiction, not sure. I consider them "good fiction" and that's enough for me!) If you haven't read Gods in Alabama, drop what you're doing and go out and buy it right now! Seriously. Any aspiring writers out there want to learn about the much-talked-about-but-difficult-to-describe concept of voice? That is the book to read.

 

RT

Just one month away! Anybody in the Pittsburgh area, please come out and see us!!!

 

 

 

 

I'm back!

Revising is done. Hermit phase is, temporarily, over. :  ) Hope to be able to share details on this project with you soon. I had so much fun writing it, and I'm really proud of it. Right now, I'm in that weird disconnected period that always happens when I finish working on something. The pressure is off, for the moment, and all the stuff I want to write has equal appeal. Sooner or later, as I keep mulling over my options, one of them will jump out at me. I just hate this in-between, not attached feeling. *shudder*

 

More later!