ABNA

I did it. I entered Gray Zone into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest.

Wish me luck, and send Gray Zone all the good thoughts you can spare. It is a Young Adult contemporary fiction about cyberbullying, so the topic is topical.

I finished it ages ago (at least 6 months) and I've been just waiting for this contest.

There are 2 categories, general fiction and young adult fiction. Each category will have 5,000 entries.

On February 23rd Amazon editors will narrow it down to 1,000 entries per category, based simply on the book's pitch.

It makes me nervous to enter my book in a contest like this, but it is also exciting!

Again, wish me luck!

Snowstorm 2012

The news reports say that it is one of the top five biggest snowstorms our area has had in history. They've called it Winter Extreme, Winter Wallop, and even good old Snowstorm.

All I know is that it is cold, beautiful, it transforms my neighborhood into a winter wonderland, and that I'm glad I have a cozy house to save me from its wonderfulness.

Obfuscation

The best writers focus on what is important--communication. They keep their writing simple, clear, and concise.

They don't get caught up in complicated sentence structures.

They resist the urge to show off their superior vocabulary. 

They lay out their argument in an easy to understand manner, one that does not require a flow chart to understand.

I recently encountered the quintessence of the bad style of writing when I was forced to peruse a book that tenaciously used obfuscating verbiage to make the substance arduous to comprehend, and therefore sleep-inducing.



Yep. That's how I felt about it too.

Slipping into villainosity

I have been studying what makes a villain, and I find it rather interesting. I am especially fascinated by the fact that a wrong step, usually into that self-centered world of me-dom, can turn a hero into a villain.

Think about it. Villains and heroes are closer than might be expected. A hero, to protect himself or his loved ones, often has to keep himself apart from others. He is different than the average person, and more powerful.

A villain is also different and more powerful, and like the hero, he also puts himself apart from the rest of the world. But where the hero uses his power to help others, the villain uses it to force others to bend to his will, so that he can have his own way. He believes it is his right, since he is better and more important than everyone else.

Wait a minute. I seem to recall a story I heard, just this morning, about someone who displayed these villainous characteristics. Now who was it? Who was it that hopped off the hero pedestal to take a stroll down the path of villainy?

Oh, yes. Now I remember, it was Beyonce!

Paying to have everyone else kicked to the curb so that an entire floor of the hospital could be turned into her own private haven is truly the mark of a person who has stepped onto that road to villainy. Talk about lack of consideration for your fellow human beings! Next we will hear that she has bought a private island, or even a small country.

Turn back, Beyonce! Quick, before the pull of the self-centered life catches you fully in its gravitation pull and you are no longer able to recognize the path you have taken, the path that takes you away from humanity.

Drop the black cape, stop being a bully, and rejoin the real world.

You won't regret it. From what I hear, me-dom is really a very lonely place.