A Couple of Death Books and a Cinematic Let Down

I own a lot of books about death.  A lot.  Either I buy them to see what they have to say or someone gives them to me because I have a blog called the "death writer." A few weeks ago, my pal Tex loaned me a copy of Roz Chast's graphic memoir, "

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

"  Tex is a member of my

Death over Dinner

group and she was super excited to share this book.  So, I do as I always do and I consumed it in a one night, Evelyn Wood's inspired, reading spree.  Short review: Loved it, but it made me super sad.  (Having parents in their 80's can do that to a person.)  Anyway, I think that was the point of the book. In a perfect world, everyone would have a copy of it on their coffee table.  "Oh look, a cartoon book!"  Cartoons are funny and blah, blah, blah.  Well, I challenge anyone to read this book and not get to the point of ugly crying face by the end of it.

The second book I read this past week was "

Damned

" by Chuck Palahniuk.  I hate to admit this, but this is the first book I've read by Chuck.  I saw "Fight Club" because Brad Pitt is so darn good looking, but I never read the book.  My second admission of guilt is that I loved it (Damned), which is also kind of shameful to admit.  Chuck "Pal-how-the-flock do I say your last name?" is way out there, but I found myself laughing out loud at several points. That doesn't happen very often when I'm reading. I'll usually smile or maybe giggle.  But Chuck's words made me guffaw.  There are some sparkling gems of funny in this tale of eternal damnation.  Review:  Maddy Spencer rocks!

Random non-death related reading story...Last week I was at a Teen Writer Workshop and I brought up a scene in "

No Country For Old Men

," as an illustration of tension.  This just shows how out of the teen pop culture loop I am, as no one in this room had seen the movie.  Too young!  Anyway, this film has lots of death. (So maybe teens shouldn't be watching this particular film.) The coin toss scene in this movie is seriously one of the most tense moments in cinematic history.  You know you want to watch it.  If anything, do it for Javier Bardem's hair!

I watched the dang movie again and I realized that it also has the biggest cinematic let down of all time. Llewelyn's death is like a little blip.  A nothing.  We've traveled with him and rooted for him and then when he's taken out, we don't even get to see it.  Damn, you Coen Brothers!

What do you think of Chuck?  I want to know.

One Night in Sixes

I met Tex Thompson at the DFW Writers' Workshop a few years back.  In the years I've known her, she has written a blog post for this here blog, she attempted to enlighten my daughter about the awesomeness of math and she is one of the wittiest attendees at my "Death Over Dinner" parties. Not only is she super nice and fun to be around, she is like the smartest person I've ever met. I've heard a lot of critiques during workshop and she is one of the few people who can always find something nice or encouraging to say about someone's writing.  Plus, she can pinpoint what isn't working and deliver it in such a way that you don't feel like your innards are going to spill forth onto the table.

In other words, she's totally kick ass.  And today, her first book has just been released!  It has been such a thrill to witness the whole process for her, from finding an agent to finally landing a book contract. And now her baby is here and look how cool it is!

You can check it out on Amazon, or better yet, go to your favorite brick and mortar bookstore and get it there.  She will be at the Barnes and Noble in lovely Hurst, TX this Saturday at 3pm.  

She is also having a Twitter contest with a $50 gift card as the prize, so hop on over for the details.

My Path to Getting Published: The Blog Tour

I tried to give

Brooke Fossey

the blog tour/cheese touch for the "My Writing Process" blog tour, and she turned around and tagged me on Twitter for the "My Path to Getting Published: The Blog Tour." Click on her name to read her fabulous post.  She even has pie charts.  Not only do I not have pie charts for this post, I don't have any death stuff lined up for this week, so here goes...

1. Where are you on your publishing path?

Right now, my memoir "Death Becomes Us" is out on submission, which is crazy fantastic, but is also making me a bit anxious.  The thing with memoir is that rejection feels personal.  "You mean you don't like me?"  Waaaaaaah!!!

I have to remind myself that I am simply a character in a really important story about other people.  I'm just the messenger.   Plus,

rejection

is part of writing.  If you're not getting rejected, you're not submitting.  And if you're not submitting, you will never be published.

2. How long has it taken you to get there?  

I first began writing with the intent to publish in about 2005, so nine years.  I began writing "Death Becomes Us" in 2008. 

3. What’s your journey looked like thus far?  

If memory serves, I was first published in the phone book in 2006. Seriously. I used to work for Directory Plus in Durango, Colorado and they published an essay I wrote about cell phones in the phone book.  Jealous? I know, it's pretty darn impressive.

My first "real" published piece was in issue 33 of

Creative Nonfiction

, which came out in 2007.  I attended a workshop with Lee Gutkind, CNF's editor, in Ouray, Colorado and at this conference, he told me I was a "horrible public speaker."  That stung.  But, he apparently liked the essay I submitted because it was a runner up in their contest and I even made some dough from it.  They also turned that issue into a book, "Silence Kills: Speaking Out and Saving Lives."

Mostly, I've been published in literary journals, which means that a very small, select group of people have actually read my writing.  It's funny, but I thought that once I got published in print that something magical would happen, like I'd be handed the keys to the writer room by an elf or a dragon.  That didn't happen.  

4. What’s your future look like?

Do I look like Cleo, the "Call me now" lady?

I don't live in the future.  My feel are firmly planted in today where I am writing a blog post about publishing.  All I have to do is press "Publish" and it's out there on the world wide web.  Whoa.  

After that, I'm going to write two pages and then I'm going to brush my teeth, wash my face, kiss my family goodnight and go to bed.

As before, I am not going to tag five other people.  If you want to write your own blog post using these questions, I say go for it.

All write, all write, all write!