Happy Hannahkah

This post is going to be better than usual because this post is not about me.

It's about hannah moskowitz, whose twitter and formspring are oh-so stalkable,

Whose love for Sam Winchester is unrivaled and also really cute,

Who wrote a few books, a couple of which I've read and loved to pieces,

Whose first middle grade came out today,

Whose characters will not get out of my head,

Who feeds and cares for and answers the silly questions of her magic gay fish,

And did I mention that ZOMBIE TAG is OUT and everyone everywhere should buy it? That's very important. All the Barnes & Nobles in my (admittedly miniscule) state are out of them already, meaning my life has become signifigantly more tragic (I have to ORDER THINGS? And WAIT?).

I'm going to post some photos of my hannahkah present, because unfortunately you can't scan painting. Instead of just using an image hosting site like I usually do, I decided to write a little something to go with it. 'Cause hannah is awesome.

I heard about hannah on twitter, which is the second-best place to hear about hannah, the first being in the vicinity of someplace where you can buy hannah's books, but that wasn't me. I found her twitter account first. I'd never read anything by her. Usually when I have not read an author's books I wait to follow them until I have, because this is one of the things I decided when I got on twitter so I wouldn't end up following a bajillion people. I did not do this with hannah. I followed her right away, because I thought she was funny. Actually, I very nearly beta-read sparklyfairyprostitutes for her before I'd read one of her published books. I think I started Invincible Summer about a day before sparklyfairyprositutes. Both of which I loved, bits and pieces, you know. But I already loved hannah before I read either, because it stuck in my mind that she was some kind of epitome of awesome. Which is not untrue.

hannah is, like, the highlight of my day. I know when I tweet her exciting things her responses will be in ALLCAPS and possibly include smiles and hearts ( :D <3 :D ). I know if I ask her anonymous questions she will respond honestly (unless the questions are dirty, but I swear I am not the one sending the dirty question) and by God is her honesty refreshing and sometimes a bit squick, in the best way. What I'm saying is, it's an honor to interact with hannah and read her books. Thank God for the internet!

So happy hannahkah, hannah moskowitz. Long live the provider of fish food.



The words are from The Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot. I haven't read the entire poem, but I found the lines "Between the idea/ And the reality/ Between the motion/ And the act/ Falls the Shadow" and for me it represents something which I, and I suppose writers in general, am very afraid of, yet it's beautiful. It makes me think of sparklyfairyprostitutes in a few ways. Also, I apologize for the horrible picture quality.

Computerized!

Not only do I have a Twitter now (which I use to follow industry people - mostly agents and publishing houses - and a handful of my favorite authors), I also have a Zazzle. It's a fun little interweb store where I can make products with my silly pictures. It's not making any money, but that doesn't matter because it's FREE! ^_^ Gotta love the internet. And it wouldn't hurt me to work a little on design asthetic-y stuff. The reason this is here on my writing blog? Most of the designs on my products are characters from one or the other of my two big WIPs.

So, this is supposed to make my "Zazzle Panel" come up. Let's see if it works.


Create personalized gifts at Zazzle.

Wow, pretty. Makes you want to click on it and spend money, doesn't it? =] I kid, I kid. There's really nothing there that anyone who doesn't know the characters would buy.

Insert one long, satisfying scream

That's what editting feels like. All of the annoyance and pain you went through writing in the first paste, doubled over with the neccesity to nit-pick, escaping in a drawn-out burst of energy, praying you'll get it all done before your breath runs out. And then, in the silence, the sense of accomplishment is renewed, and you can look at your (hopefully) improved work with pride.

Okay, so I'm not done editting yet. It takes a long time to edit 70,000 words. But I'm plugging away at it, getting it done so I can start looking for some outside feedback and then - finally - sending it out to agencies. My English teacher is reading it as I edit, but he's so busy that he doesn't mind how long it's taking. =P I recently finished reading his book, which he is also editting, so we've had some interesting literary convos. Take my advice, if you're a young writer: don't just talk to other young writers. Find some older, more experienced, perhaps even published authors to talk to. It shouldn't be that hard; between two of my aunts, I could get connected with dozens of published writers. Ask you relatives or teachers or even librarians if there are any local authors you could contact with writing questions. Even if it's not extremely helpful, it's a good connection, and it gives you experience in "talking shop" with other writers.

Anyhow, while the editting scene is interesting only to me, the artsy side of my life is a little less dry. I've found this cool little shop - Feels Like Ohm (yay, puns) - that sells local art, among other things, in my town. I've talked to the owner and I'm planning on bringing in some stuff for her to look at soon. Hah, if my stuff sells well, maybe I can draw instead of work this summer.

I love this blog. It's so much fun to talk to myself. <3