Ringing in the 2013 Christmas Season!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

And now it’s time for a little tradition. Every year on Black Friday, I kick off Christmas by blasting this song as loudly as possible. Please, join me this year...

RINGING IN CHRISTMAS!

I saw these guys live last week. If you haven’t, go see them. It’s…there are no words. And this song live. A part of my soul is complete.

Also, to those who celebrate, we are partway into it already. Happy Hanukkah!

And to everyone else, a happy holiday season!

Enjoy the rest of this holiday weekend.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

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-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book tour blog

2013 NANOWRIMO=NANOWINO!

BAM!!!!

I said I’d get it done, and I got it done. My first Nanowin! Clocked in at 50,132 words last night. Printed my certificate of awesomeness. Uploaded my Facebook picture of bragginess. And now I’m writing the blog post of successfulness. BAM! RAAH! And to quote Hades...

And Kuzco…

I’d like to thank @NanoWordSprints on Twitter . They kept me going the last couple of days. I also got some of my more creative typos from sprints. Here are a few.

Litesen – listen—not too bad
Jayleln – should have been my heroine’s name—Jayleen
Yfo – of—really not sure how that happened

And now info, a pledge, and news.

Even with all this productivity, my thesis is not “done.” I still have a few scenes to write. Much of the 50k went to rewriting chapters that I realized I couldn’t use as they were. I didn’t cheat. It was all new content, believe me.

Nanowrimo is big on continuing the productivity year-round. Motivation is key, and here’s mine. My goal is to finish this draft of my thesis by January residency—Jan 9, 2014. Plenty of time? Let’s hope. But to help keep myself honest, I’ll post weekly updates on here. And when I finish the draft, there will be an excerpt. K, I’ve said it. I’m sticking to it. Keep your eyes peeled for a bit of my thesis upcoming.

And now, the news.

I participated in an aspiring author blog tour this month. My interview went up on Monday, and I’m sharing.

2013 Aspiring Author Blog Tour: Mary DeSantis

Hop on over and check it out. I’m being my usual (interesting) self, and there’s an excerpt from my urban fantasy.

Thank you to Tracee Ford for organizing the event and allowing me to participate. I had a lot of fun with the interview.

Right (Write?). This is DeSantism signing off. If I don’t get back on here tomorrow, Happy Thanksgiving!

A friendly reminder—the Goddess Fish book tours I used to host and all other book/author promo stuff is now done over at my book blog: Kit ‘N Kabookle.

As always, thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

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Mars and a Haiku

Maven went to Mars today.

There was a Mars haiku contest earlier this year for the Maven. Winners would have their haiku sent to Mars. Everyone who submitted got their name sent to Mars. I missed the deadline—life—but I wrote a haiku.

In honor of the trip, I will share that haiku here.

*drum roll*

It was once a god.

And now it’s just a planet.

What a culture shock.

Have a good night, everyone.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

Follow My Blog With Bloglovin

-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book tour blog

A Whole New Musical World!

Disney’s Aladdin is coming to the big stage!

For those who know me (and those who read my little blurb at the top of the blog) you know this is momentous. Another Disney on Broadway extravaganza! They’ve done it several times before with Beauty and the Beast (1994), the extremely popular The Lion King (1997), Tarzan (2006), and The Little Mermaid (2008).

Casting this bad boy we have Adam Jacobs as Aladdin, James Monroe Iglehart as Genie, and Courtney Reed as Princess Jasmine. And (drum roll please) the most exciting cast announcement—Jonathan Freeman as Jafar. For those who don’t know, he voiced Jafar in the original 1992 animated movie. I’m jumping up and down over here.

The amazing Alan Menken is back to write more music, and the show opens on Broadway on March 20 of next year. I see a trip to NY in my future.

There is one sad face moment. There won’t be an Abu. Really, no Abu? How can you have Aladdin without Abu? Still, the crystal ball shows me in NY next summer.

And possible future spoilers. I read an article that said The Jungle Book might be in the works. How cool would that be? No, really?

Peeps, have an awesome weekend! How are my Nanoites doing? I hit 30k today. Must…keep…writing….

As always, thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

Follow My Blog With Bloglovin

-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book tour blog

Achievement Unlocked: Halfway Mark for NANOWRIMO!

I broke 25k for Nano!!!

Really, that’s all. Lol. And I’m just feeling pretty pumped about it.

How’s everyone else doing?

And while I’m here, week 2 is the slump week. Though I’ve never won Nano before, I have had to keep writing even when I wanted to do anything but. Here are a few things that work for me when those crash and burn moments hit.

-Take a break
People never think of this one. Stand up. Walk around. Dance if you have to. Moving helps the creative juices flow.

-Work on a different part of the story
Nano’s challenge is write 50k, not write 50k in a consecutive manner. If chapter 12 is calling to you, write chapter 12. Anything to keep writing.

-Surround yourself with other writers/people doing Nano
Whether this be local writers or some form of an online writing community, having other people there to encourage you helps. And don’t forget to encourage back.

Feel free to connect with me on nano: desantism

Here’s to the next 25k!

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

Follow My Blog With Bloglovin

-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book tour blog

Showers, Elevators, and Other Small Spaces I Often Think like a Writer In

Hey all,

It’s occurred to me that I have some of my best writing-related ideas in small, sometimes cramped spaces. Or maybe small, cozy spaces.

I’ll elaborate. This morning was a rather typical morning for me since the start of the semester back in July. I woke up at some god-forsaken hour (all right, 6am isn’t really god-forsaken) with my thesis running through my head. Most people can’t get to sleep when something’s stressing them out. I have the opposite problem. I fall asleep fine. My subconscious just wakes me up before I want to wake up with a far-too-cheerful “Yo! It’s thinking time.” At this point, I wonder if it’s actually “Step In Time” or, more accurately, “Quittin Time,” but I keep these thoughts to myself.

The next step in this “fun” process is the thinking, which is an awful lot like dialogue. It goes something like this.

Brain: “So…chapter [#]….”
Me: “Go away. It’s still mostly dark out.”
Brain: “But chapter [#]….”
Me: “Really, I don’t want to do this now.”

And so on. This goes on for about an hour, during which time my end of the conversation becomes riddled with more and more curse words.

So we started around 6, right? Let’s say around…8:15, the following occurs.

Brain: “Well, you could do this.”
Me: “Look, I don’t want to say it again. I don’t…. Wait a minute.” *takes brain’s suggestion and expands on it* “That’s amazing! Chapter [#] problem solved.”

By this point it’s eight thirty, and I’ve been thinking too much to fall back to sleep. So I get up and start my day.

Notice, though, the location of this genius-ish work. Bed. Under the covers and relatively safe. It’s a small, cozy place.

I’ve experienced similar bouts of genius in the shower (those, however, usually disappear by the time I get out from under the water). I’ve also had “uhuh” moments in elevators. I’m wondering if that one’s related to the elevator pitch. Elevators just might be natural places for writers to exist. Hoping that’s not true. I’m not overly fond of elevators.

This brings up another question, though. How desperate will a writer get for inspiration? When I start hanging out under tables, I’ll know I’ve gotten to that point.

Any small, cramped, and/or cozy spaces you hang out to get ideas? Suggestions for new places for my family members to find me and then puzzle over my mind welcome.

Thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

Follow My Blog With Bloglovin

-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book tour blog

Halloween 2013

Hey, that rhymes!

Good Monday,

As promised on Saturday, last week in detail.

Tuesday – Dinner out with writers. Costumes encouraged, which, of course, means I dressed up.

Wednesday – Open mike night with different writers. Costumes encouraged, which, of course, means I dressed up.

I read from my thesis Wednesday night and won first prize. *jumps up and down.* The overall reaction to what I read was positive. That made me feel much better about myself and the project. I’d post the excerpt I read, but I want to use it at my thesis reading next June, and I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

In addition to reading, I sang Reflection from Disney’s Mulan. I also dressed as Mulan as you can see from the picture. They said we got bonus points for dressing as something related to what we read. No, my thesis is not Mulan, but this post (one of my first ever) explains the relationship.

Writer Point: At every opportunity you get, read your work before an audience. It’s great practice. It helps eliminate stage fright, and it gives you feedback reading to yourself can never give.

Thursday – Halloween night. Halloween party, costumes more or less required.

I’ve always wanted purple hair. A night of fun—games, conversation, food, and drink (both types).

Friday – Nano kick-off (no costumes)

I hit the ground running on Friday with about 2500 words. I’m now sitting just past 7k. How’s everyone else doing?

Stay tuned for more writer stuff and more nano updates. Feel free to traverse the nano with me here with word counts or goals.

Thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

Follow My Blog With Bloglovin

-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book tour blog