Andi Marquette

Writers are nuckin’ futs

My particular fave point:

5. Quiet Loners
Whenever they find some whackaloon with a collection of severed heads in his freezer, they always trot out the neighbors and you get that classic line: “He was always so quiet.” And the assumption becomes, oh, that seemingly nice-and-quiet chap next door needed his quiet time because he was too busy with his hobby of decapitating dudes. On the other hand: hey, maybe him being quiet and alone all the time made him crazy. Maybe you spend too long cooped up with yourself the carpet starts moving and the wallpaper shifts and the room starts to whisper, You know what would be awesome? A sweet-ass collection of severed heads. Get on that. This is probably a good time to remind you that writers happen to spend a lot of time alone and cooped up with themselves. Just, uhh, putting that out there. What, this old thing? Just a hacksaw.

I’d add another:

Social Cues
What? Doesn’t everyone ask people at cocktail parties what it would take to get them to drive a car off a suspension bridge or break into someone’s house for the sole purpose of raiding their refrigerator and eating meat naked in the kitchen sink? (true story–that actually happened, but I’m sure a writer somewhere had already put it to paper before that) Writers should go out in public at least three times a week to interact with people who are not writers. Not only does that teach us how to behave like normal people for a few minutes (one hopes), but it can give you lots of good ideas for secondary characters.

Happy reading, happy writing. And put that hacksaw away, where nobody can see it.

February 14, 2012 by Andi Marquette Categories: Cool stuff to read, Funny stuff, Super cool blogsTags: Chuck Wendig, writers are crazy 4 Comments

When an apocalypse hits…

where will you be?

Hi, folks–

Here we are on zombie and/or apocalypse Saturdays. First, tomorrow is the next episode of AMC’s Walking Dead, which has been on mid-season hiatus until now. So if you’ve been following that, there you go. I’m already getting my therapy lined up…

Second, Tuesdays, the National Geographic channel is airing a program called “Doomsday Preppers.” It’s exactly what it says it is. Each hour features about 20 minute segments with a different person or people preparing for an apocalypse. The form that apocalypse takes (e.g. financial, grid collapse, natural disaster) depends on the people. So you get, say, 3 people an hour who are serious apocalypse preppers. Then the NatGeo crew provides some feedback to each prepper, and offers suggestions (if necessary) to improve their prep. Then the commentator tells you, the audience, what the actual chances are that an apocalypse like the one the people are prepping for will actually happen.

The website (link above) offers a breakdown of the episodes, tips from preppers, and bios of the various preppers. Kind of interesting, if that’s your thing. I rather enjoyed it.

And third, author Julianna Baggott has released Pure, the first in her post-apocalyptic series. It’s getting rave reviews and she has an excerpt posted on her website. Seriously. Check this out. Click HERE for those opening pages.

Wow. Lyrical, tactile, narrative gold. Do yourselves a favor and pick this one up. It’s been optioned for film rights. Personally, I think the book’s vision will be ever Pure-er than any movie could make it, but I’m sure the visual impact of the movie will be pretty darn amazing. 😀

There you go. Some doomsday stuff for you to consider and enjoy, if you’re weird like me.

Happy reading, happy writing, happy watching!

February 11, 2012February 11, 2012 by Andi Marquette Categories: Apocalypse, Books, Cool stuff to read, Disaster preparedness, TV showsTags: Doomsday Preppers, Julianna Baggott, Pure, Walking Dead

Outside. Now.

Hey, folks–

Hope the week is treating you fab-ly.

I came across this article in HuffPo and it totally upset me. The story is about how references to nature are declining in children’s books, and that does not bode well for generations of kids who are increasingly isolated from the natural world, not only physically, but now intellectually as even their books don’t reference interaction with nature.

Quote, from the article:

[according to a study] Initially, natural and built environments were equally represented, but beginning in the 1960s, depictions of natural settings began a steady decline. By 2008, images of human-made environments showed up in books twice as often as those depicting nature scenes.

The study’s authors attribute the decline to the increasing isolation of children from the natural world. “These findings suggest that today’s generation of children are not being socialized, at least through this source, toward an understanding and appreciation of the natural world and the place of humans within it,” noted the authors.
[source: “Children’s Books Lack Nature References, Study Suggests”]

The article also raises a question about whether kids like nature subjects, but maybe aren’t into books about nature that are heavy-hitting in terms of environmental messages. It’s something to think about, but I think the most troubling aspect of this piece, and the study, is that we as a species are becoming more and more isolated from the outdoors, and this has profound ramifications for our physical, spiritual, and emotional health. Here, from the Harvard Health Letter, are some reasons that this is true. The Guardian notes that the outdoors (even a view of it) can help patients heal faster, and this source (maybe kind of woo-woo) notes it, too.

I know that being outside has helped me in terms of health and well-being — even if that’s just a placebo effect, I always feel better after playing outside, so I’ll take it.

So if you’re parents, maybe hook your kids up with classic books that feature outside settings like, say, the Little House on the Prairie books, or Treasure Island . Heck, even the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books are good options. And get your kids OUTSIDE. Take them on bug-hunting trips to the park or open space. Go for drives to rural areas and national parks and forests. Get them involved in outdoor programs, so that they learn how interconnected we all are to not only our built environments, but the natural. We need more stewards of the land, friends.

So go play outside!

Happy reading, happy writing, happy camping!

February 8, 2012 by Andi Marquette Categories: Interviews, Things that might make you thinkTags: children's literature, outdoors 2 Comments

Cancer doesn’t care.

Hi, all.

I wanted to take this time to say a few things about something that’s been weighing on my mind. As a writer, I tend to express myself in that medium, about a great many things. Here, I have something to say about a topic that is particularly relevant (it’s been all over the news) in general, but also to me personally.

Breast cancer sucks. I say that as someone who has known women (and one man) who has battled it, as someone who knew someone who lost her battle with it, and as someone who is currently personally affected by it. That said, I’m fortunate. Mine was caught early. It was non-invasive and stage 0.

So I know what organizations and foundations can do to help people who battle cancer. I’m also incredibly fortunate because I have health insurance, and in America, which is supposedly one of the greatest nations in the world, a third of the people in our country cannot afford health insurance. So they have to rely on organizations and foundations to provide low-cost healthcare and screenings, in hopes that diseases like cancer are caught early and can be treated before they’ve progressed.

But there’s a more important message here.

Continue reading →

February 5, 2012 by Andi Marquette Categories: Stuff that totally and completely sucks, Things that might make you thinkTags: breast cancer, cancer 6 Comments

Go check out my chat with Faith Hunter!

That’s right, peeps. NYT bestselling urban fantasy author Faith Hunter sat down for a chat with me over at Women and Words.

You can catch that HERE.

And please do leave comments or questions for her. She’s more than willing to respond. Don’t be shy. I know, I know. NYT bestselling and all. But seriously. She’d love hearing from you.

Happy reading, happy writing!

February 4, 2012 by Andi Marquette Categories: Cool stuff to read, Inspiration, Interviews, Paranormal, Urban FantasyTags: Faith Hunter

Two Words: Faith Hunter

Hi, folks–

I’d like you to check in with Women and Words this Friday, February 3rd. Especially if you read urban fantasy. Fab NYT bestselling author Faith Hunter graciously agreed to an interview with me, and it’ll be posted at Women and Words.

Spread the word, share the love. And join me in a case of the serious vay-puhs for such an occurrence!

Happy reading, happy writing!

January 31, 2012 by Andi Marquette Categories: Announcements, InterviewsTags: Faith Hunter

Portland has all the cool stuff

SRSLY? Zombie apocalypse training? Are you freaking kidding me???

No, I am not. Portland is offering seminars.

Here’s the link, for reals.

There’s a vid at the link, too.

And once you get that training, Portland is the perfect place to write something about it!

The city sports the Attic Institute, a creative awesome-spot for writers.

and
The Willamette Writers.

And cool writers’ conferences like this one. And this one. And go here for even more listings.

So for those of you there, I’m a tad envious. Let me know how the zombie apocalypse training goes.

January 29, 2012 by Andi Marquette Categories: Announcements, Disaster preparedness, Inspiration, WritingTags: Attic Institute, Portland, Willamette Writers, writing workshops, zombie apocalypse training

What? Friday AGAIN?

Holy crap. Wasn’t it just Friday last week?

Where DOES the time go?

Briefly, the power of humor continues. It made HuffPo. One thing I appreciate about defusing nastiness with humor is that it doesn’t leave you feeling dirty afterward. Laughing is a soul-lift. Silliness lightens your mood, and for a moment, you’re not carrying a ton of baggage or dealing with the day-to-day. You’re in that moment, enjoying it. Savoring it. And sharing it, I hope. And in these times, especially, we could all use a good laugh.

All right, that said, let’s have some Friday fun stuff.

Photobombs. That’s when you’re trying to get that photo, and something messes it up. Maybe it’s something in the background, or maybe it’s something in the foreground. Here are some amusing animal photobombs. HuffPo had some good ones today:

CLICKIE to go see.

Here’s the first one, which I think is one of my faves in the series:

Source: HuffPo via Photobomb.com (resized here)

There’s one of a squirrel that had me laughing, too. Which reminds me. Get your honey badger fix. If you’ve missed out on the honey badger meme, let me help you. Here’s the original documentary clip on the sheer badassery of the honey badger. You only need about 30 seconds of that to get the point. Now here’s Randall’s take on the honey badger, and therein, a meme is born. CLICK for it!

And finally, for the more literary-minded, check out this list of author addictions. I loved Balzac’s description of his coffee addiction, but OMG who knew about James Joyce? He also wrote some pretty raunchy letters (TOTALLY NOT SAFE FOR WORK, if you click that link in the James Joyce addiction section, so be aware!). Again, who knew?!?

Go see what past writers struggled with HERE.

And there you go. Hope you have a groovy Friday. Happy writing, happy reading!

January 27, 2012 by Andi Marquette Categories: Funny stuff, Random WTF stuffTags: animal photobombs, famous author addictions, honey badger

The power of humor

Hi, folks.

I bring this up because I love humor. Especially the genuinely funny kind, that pokes fun not only at the world, but also at oneself. If you have the ability to laugh at yourself, you have the ability to change the world.

I say this because there’s a hilarious movement afoot over at Twitter. A rather mean-spirited personage over there was tweeting horrible and generally false things about a group of people. Which happens all the time, as you know. People say and do crazy crap on the interwebs on a daily basis, and get away with it all the time. But for whatever reasons, this time, somebody decided that the best way to deal with the mean-spiritedness was humor. Whoever that was got a whole bunch of other people to do the same. And they told a few people, and they told more people, and then before you know it, the mean-spirited hashtag became an absolutely hilarious celebration of the power of humor to derail nastiness.

Want to know more about it? Check here, here, and here.

So I thought I’d send you to some authors who have a similar kind of ribald, delicious, wonderful way of looking at the world. Because humor is generally subjective, and it can be a powerful tool in the right hands.

In no particular order, read Florida-based Carl Hiaasen. Start with his 1984 Tourist Season and go from there. His characters and dialogue will have you in stitches, and his sly grilling of the world in which we live only adds a delightful twist of the humor knife. Along those lines, Janet Evanovich‘s Stephanie Plum series always has me laughing out loud at the antics of Jersey girl-turned-bounty-hunter Plum.

And for those of you who enjoy LGBT books, with strong and colorful LGBT characters, please do yourselves a favor and read Joan Opyr’s books. Idaho Code and From Hell to Breakfast are jaunts along the lines of the 1930s Thin Man series, with Nick and Nora Charles. Slapstick comedy, witty banter, mysteries, and very human musings from Opyr’s characters make this pair of books a must-read. And for another Opyr book, which contains elements of her amazing humor but in a completely different vein, catch her Shaken and Stirred.

And please do yourselves a favor and read Mari SanGiovanni. Greetings from Jamaica, Wish You Were Queer. I’ll sum it up thus: Large Italian family. Trip to Jamaica. Hijinks ensue. Need I say more? And the sequel’s out. Camptown Ladies, which I’ll sum up thus: Large Italian family. Sister buys a campground, hires sister as cook. Brother’s girlfriend is contractor who works on the camp. Hijinks completely ensue.

Laugh often. We could all use a bit more of that, yes?

Happy reading, happy writing, happy!

January 25, 2012January 26, 2012 by Andi Marquette Categories: Books, Cool stuff to read, Funny stuffTags: Carl Hiaasen, Janet Evanovich, Joan Opyr, Mari SanGiovanni 1 Comment

In Memoriam: Etta James

I’ve put this post off for a couple of days because I just couldn’t find the words to express how I feel about the passing of an American legend.

Etta James died this past Friday. Her music has been part of my musical landscape for years. I can’t remember a day when I didn’t know who she was because my parents listened to her music, as well. I finally had the good fortune to catch her live in Nashville in 2007 or thereabouts, and she could still put on a heck of a show.

The quintessential scrappy bad girl, James crossed myriad musical genres. She could sing like a raunchy low-down blues empress one minute, then like an angel with a backing celestial chorus the next. Her personal life was filled with travails, and she did nearly destroy her voice through her addiction to heroine and then cocaine, but battled back so that by the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was opening for the Rolling Stones. She talked candidly about her addiction and rehab issues in her 1995 biography, Rage To Survive.

Etta James isn’t the kind of woman easy to talk about. Instead, you get a sense of who she was through the music she left us. She herself said that

“You can’t fake this music. You might be a great singer or a great musician but, in the need, that’s got nothing to do with it. It’s how you connect to the songs and to the history behind them.”

Indeed. I leave you now with a few of my favorites.

“The Sky Is Crying”